As pioneers in football go, few rank higher than Valeriy Lobanovskyi. Influencing the game’s greatest managers long after he began his 30-year odyssey on the touchline, his success with Dynamo Kyiv –…

As pioneers in football go, few rank higher than Valeriy Lobanovskyi. Influencing the game’s greatest managers long after he began his 30-year odyssey on the touchline, his success with Dynamo Kyiv –…
MONACO’S EXHILARATING RUN to the Champions League semi-finals in 2017 was as thrilling as it was tinged by a shade of sadness, given Leonardo Jardim’s brilliant team looked certain to be pulled…
THINK OF THE RUSSIAN NATIONAL TEAM and you’re unlikely to think of anything particularly positive. One brief flutter towards success came in reaching the Euro 2008 semi-finals in fine style – led by…
Reaching the final of Euro 88 and re-forming again in 1992 after the Union’s collapse, the Soviet national team enjoyed fleeting highs in their final days
IN MAY 1986 at the Stade de Gerland in Lyon, Atlético Madrid and Dynamo Kyiv met in the final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup, with Dynamo winning 3-0 under the guidance…
The feature is part of The Masterminds After he exploded with delight at having slotted the winning penalty past Gianluigi Buffon, Andriy Shevchenko paused for a moment deep in thought. Even as the rigid…
VALERIY LOBANOVSKYI SAT ON THE BENCH, hands clasped tight. With frown lines permanently etched into his forehead, he occasionally rocked back and forth. Even as a proven, successful manager he was an…