Ukraine was one step away from a sensation in Germany in Rebrov's first match: the Germans bounced back thanks to a penalty

Ukraine's national football team almost sensationally beat Germany in the first match under new head coach Serhiy Rebrov. The friendly match at the Weserstadion in Bremen was the 1000th in the history of the Bundestim. And the Blue and Yellows made every effort to spoil this celebration for the hosts. But the rivals parted ways in a 3-3 draw.

Prior to this sparring match, Germany and Ukraine had played eight matches, but the Blue and Yellows had never managed to upset their opponents - the Germans won five times and three matches ended in a draw. By the way, in the same arena in Bremen, the Bundestim beat the Ukrainians with Rebrov in 1997 in the qualifiers for the 1998 World Cup with a score of 2: 0. But today's events did not go according to the hosts' scenario.

The Weserstadion, with its many blue and yellow flags, welcomed the Ukrainians very warmly. And Andriy Yarmolenko made an emotional speech before the starting whistle, trying to further encourage his teammates to fight. It became clear that, although this match was a friendly, the team was going to please Rebrov, their compatriots and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who counterattacked in several directions at once.

However, for the first 12 minutes, it seemed that nothing good was in store for the Ukrainians in Bremen. Already in the second minute, Mudryk's inaccurate back pass almost resulted in a goal for Anatoliy Trubin. But Füllkrug, who had the ball, managed to miss the goal from 13 metres.

And in the sixth minute, Germany finally got their goal. Marius Wolf received the ball in the penalty area, and two Ukrainian players rushed to block his shot, but the Borussia Dortmund midfielder managed to score. Trubin rushed to parry, but the ball ricocheted off Füllkrug and flew under the crossbar.

Having opened the scoring, the Germans did not retreat, but continued to put pressure on the Blue and Yellows and threaten Ukraine's goal. It was clear from Rebrov's thoughtful and disappointed face that the new national team coach had a completely different view of his team's performance.

The Ukrainians had their first chance in the 13th minute. Dovbyk earned a free kick on the left flank, which Tsygankov took, but none of his teammates managed to close the ball in the penalty area. However, the guests gradually recovered and began to fight back.

Probing our defence, on 18 minutes the Germans cut off and missed a Ukrainian lunge. Zabarny passed the ball to Tymchyk, who received the pass on the right flank, brought Tsygankov to the German goal with a sighted pass, and the Girona winger sent a shot into the net, beating Trapp.

The referee first saw the Ukrainian offside, but the replay showed that Rüdiger was closer to his goal. 1:1. And the goal spurred the guests on.

An unpleasant episode occurred in the 21st minute when, after a collision between Stepanenko and Wolf, the Dortmund player ended up on the pitch and had to call a doctor. Wolf got up and while he was off the field, Ukraine took the lead.

Rebrov's men scratched the ball out in the centre of the pitch through Yarmolenko's efforts, launched a quick attack that ended with Tymchyk's free-kick from the right flank, Tsygankov passed to Mudryk, who scored. It is not known where the ball would have gone from Mykhailo if not for a ricochet from Rüdiger. And the ball ended up in the net - 2-1.

Ukraine, who had been pinned back for the first 12 minutes, suddenly found themselves in front, shocking the home team. After the second goal, the Germans were not immediately able to regroup, and when they went forward with great force, they lacked the final pass.

The Bundestim circled around Trubin's penalty area but could not break through. In the 38th minute, Fullkrug made a header from the right corner of the goal, but missed the target.

The Ukrainians tried to catch the opponent in a mistake and launch their own counterattack. The Blue and Yellows created a very dangerous moment near the home goal in the 44th minute - Yarmolenko fought in someone else's penalty area and passed the ball to Tymchyk, who had scored two previous goals for Ukraine and could have scored himself. But he missed the goal from a sharp angle.

In the third stoppage time, our fans were already screaming as Sane made a very dangerous free-kick, but the ball was deflected off the crossbar.

Hans-Dieter Flick, trying to turn the tide of the home game, made a double substitution at half-time, bringing on Füllkrug and Schlotterbeck and releasing Havertz and Klostermann. But the Ukrainians were ready for this scenario. Mykhailo Mudryk was much bolder, trying to break through on 53 minutes. He was stopped only in violation of the rules, but the offender was not given a yellow card.

In the 56th minute, the German defence gave Ukraine a gift. Ginter let the ball go too far away in his own penalty area, was robbed by Dovbyk and rolled out to Tsygankov, who shot the goalkeeper, making the score 3-1. At that moment, there was not even a smile on Rebrov's face. Of course, the coach understood who he was playing against.

For some time, the game was on opposite courses, Zubkov, who came on as a substitute, had a chance, Sudakov brought Vanat on, but Vladislav did not take advantage of his opportunity. But in the last 10 minutes, the Germans began to press much more aggressively, breaking through the opposition's defence.

Substitute Kai Havertz played a key role at the end of the match. In the 82nd minute, Mudryk's Chelsea teammate won a duel with Matvienko in the opposition penalty area and threw the ball past Trubin. Germany reduced the difference to a minimum - 2-3. The tension reached the limit.

In the 90th minute, when the Ukrainian fans were slowly preparing to celebrate, the hosts earned a penalty after Sobol's completely unnecessary foul on Havertse in their own penalty area. Kimmich beat Trubin to level the match at 3-3. The first victory over the four-time world champions had to be postponed until better times.

It will be recalled that the Blue and Yellows will play the Euro 2024 qualifiers next. On June 16, the national team of Ukraine will play Northern Macedonia, and on the 19th, Rebrov's team will meet Malta.

Earlier, OBOZREVATEL reported that Rebrov had excluded Dynamo's best player from the Ukrainian national team for the match against Germany.

We also told how Rebrov escaped from Klitschko through the back door and scared the Russian in the UAE.

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