Dynamo Kiev vs Manchester City Half-Time Update

Half-time has reached the freezing conditions of Kiev, where Dynamo are currently comfortably leading Manchester City 1-0.

Roberto Mancini’s men started in a 4-3-3 formation, with the attacking front three of David Silva, Edin Dzeko and Mario Balotelli looking to take the advantage in the 1st leg of this Europa League tie.

All three of City’s midfielders are playing deep; a tactical decision to stop Kiev from producing anything in the final third, a formation that worked for the first part of the first 45 minutes.

City’s Balotelli had the first effort of the game, early on – a corner from the left found its way to the Italian, but his right-footed volley was high and wide.

After a subdued start, the Citizens stepped up a level 20 minutes in. Kolarov did very well to force a shot on target from 25 yards, but his attempt was straight at Kiev goalkeeper Shovkovskiy.

The Kiev goal came five minutes later; after good build-up play by Gusev, Yarmulenko picked the ball up deep on the left hand side, and swung in a curling cross to the near post that was pounced upon by Shevchenko, who arrived before Hart to poke into the City net.

Mancini has made two changes to his starting eleven from the side that recorded a 1-0 win over Wigan on Saturday; Carlos Tevez, as expected, has been dropped to the bench, replaced by Dzeko whilst Aleksandar Kolarov coming in for veteran Patrick Vieira.

Former Chelsea and Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko starts in attack for Kiev alongside Artem Milevskiy, who has six goals in the Europa League this campaign.

Dynamo Kiev: Shovkovskiy, Danilo Silva, Popov, Khacheridi, Vukojevic, Gusev, Eremenko, Yussuf, Shevchenko, Yarmolenko, Milevskiy

Substitutes: Koval, Betao, Leandro Almeida, Garmash, Ninkovic, Kravets, Guilherme

Manchester City: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Zabaleta, Kolarov, Lescott, Barry, Silva, Yaya Toure, Dzeko, Balotelli

Substitutes: Taylor, Boateng, Boyata, Wright-Phillips, Vieira, De Jong, Tevez