Please, try again later
🤫 Gent have looked in disarray at the start of the Belgian Pro League season and their domestic concerns could translate into defeat in their Champions League playoff first leg with high-flying Dynamo Kiev.
The Belgians lost star player Jonathan David to Lille this summer and his absence already appears to be showing on the pitch, with Gent having won only two of their first six league matches, losing to the likes of Sint-Truiden, Kortrijk, Antwerp and Eupen.
😏 Dynamo Kiev, meanwhile, are unbeaten in their first five competitive matches of the season and that run has included both a Ukrainian Super Cup success over Shakhtar Donetsk and a victory against AZ Alkmaar in the Champions League qualifiers.
They are fresh from beating Lviv 3-1 in the league and my prediction is a Kiev win in Belgium.
Ghent finished the second in the Belgian top flight last season, but four defeats in their first six games - they are already 13 in the table. Dynamo Kiev also came the second in the Ukrainian Premier League. After three unbeaten matches, two wins - they are in third place in the table. Dynamo's excellent start goes beyond the league matches: a victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in the Super Cup, a European triumph over AZ Alkmaar.
Ghent and Dynamo have met before. In the 2010/11 Champions League season, the teams played against each other in the third qualifying round. Dynamo won the home game 3-0, then moved to Belgium and secured the qualification with a 3-1 win with a 6-1 total score. Both teams participated in the Europa League last season, Ghent was eliminated from Roma in 1/16 finals, and Dynamo could not get out of the group.
Considering the start of the season, I prefer Dynamo.