Ukraine round-up: Dynamo reach Champions League

FC Dynamo Kyiv booked their place in next season's UEFA Champions League with a win today.

Incredible run
The Ukrainian league leaders continued their incredible run of results with a 6-0 win against FC Metalist Kharkhiv to take a place in the 2002/03 Champions League despite having played only 20 games in their domestic league.

Two hat-tricks
Maxim Shatskikh and Valiantsin Bialkevich helped themselves to hat-tricks as Dynamo gave the visitors a footballing lesson. Shatskikh netted three times in the space of 16 first-half minutes, while Bialkevich put the finishing touches on a dazzling display with a trio of second-half strikes.

Shakhtar thwarted
FC Shakhtar Donetsk could have joined their long-term rivals Dynamo in the Champions League with a win today but they could only draw 0-0 with FC Metalurh Zaporizhzhya. To add to their woes, Shakhtar had Assan Ndiaye sent off deep into added time at the Shakhtyor stadium.

Joy for Vorskla
Elsewhere in Ukraine, FC Vorskla Poltava picked up three valuable points in their battle to beat the drop with a 2-1 win against FC Metalurh Donetsk. A penalty from Emmanuel Okoduwa in first-half stoppage time and Serhi Onopki's strike ten minutes after the restart were enough to give Vorskla victory after Yevhen Kotov had given Donetsk a 35th-minute lead.

Arsenal stumble
FC Arsenal Kyiv's failure to take anything from their game against FC Zakarpattia Uzhgorod means they sit level on points with Vorskla, albeit with a slightly superior goal difference. Hennadi Schekotylin struck the winner for Zakarpattia after Olexandr Kosyrin's penalty had cancelled out a sixth-minute opener from Myroslav Bundash.

Mariupil fight back
FC Metalurh Mariupil came back from two goals down to steal a point against FC Polihraftechnica Olexandria. Olexandr Babych and Volodymyr Sharan looked to have given the home side victory, only for two strikes in the last 21 minutes from Stepan Molokutsko and Kostiantyn Sakharov to earn Mariupil a share of the spoils.

Misery for Tavriya
A Vail Gigiadze penalty 21 minutes from time was not enough to stop FC Tavriya Simferopol going down 2-1 to FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, for whom Serhi Zadorozhny and Olexandr Poklonsky got on the scoresheet. In today's other game, FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih and FC Karpaty Lviv battled out a 0-0 draw.