Semin sacked by Kyiv

Dynamo Kyiv have fired their veteran coach Yuri Semin in the wake of their humiliating defeat by Paris Saint-Germain and a sluggish start to the domestic season. Dynamo's UEFA Champions League campaign got off to a disastrous start last week with a 4-1 defeat at the hands of PSG that exposed the gap in class between the two sides. Meanwhile, Semin has failed to break the ascendancy of Dynamo's bitter rivals Shakhtar Donetsk, who won the domestic title last year and have also stolen a march to lead the league this season. Dynamo lost 3-1 to Shakhtar in the league earlier this month, and a 4-1 defeat to the same opponents in the fourth round of the Ukrainian Cup at the weekend proved to be the final straw. "Dynamo thanks Yuri Pavlovich Semin for the work he has done and wishes him luck in his future activities," a club statement said. "An announcement will be made soon over who will prepare the team for the next matches." One of the most experienced managers in the former Soviet Union, the Russian Semin, now 65, coached Lokomotiv Moscow from 1986 to 2005 and also had a largely unsuccessful stint with the Russian national team. He started coaching Dynamo Kyiv in 2007 but in 2009 again took up the post at Lokomotiv, before returning to Kyiv in 2010.