Juve fight back to oust Dynamo

FC Dynamo Kyiv crashed out of the UEFA Champions League as they were beaten 2-1 in the Olympyskyi Stadium by Juventus FC.

Dynamo lead
It all looked rosy for Dynamo five minutes into the second half as Maksim Shatskikh gave them the lead. Diogo Rincón was clearly in an offside position, but he was adjudged not to have been interfering with play, allowing the Uzbekistan striker to run through and chip Antonio Chimenti. The goalkeeper got his left hand to the ball, but as Gianluca Pessotto – making his first appearance of the season after recovering from injury – chased back, the ball just beat him over the line.

Battling Juventus
If Dynamo thought that would take them through, though, they had not reckoned without the battling spirit of Juventus. There looked little danger as Juve built up slowly from the back, but then Gianluca Zambrotta crossed low from the right and Marcelo Salas showed great presence of mind to hold off two defenders and slide the ball past Vitalii Reva.

Zalayeta strike
Juventus had not won any of their previous 18 away Champions League ties – their last victory, in fact, coming against Dynamo in Kiev in 1998 – but they took the lead on the hour, Salas’s clever step over, allowing Marcelo Zalayeta a clear run into the box. The Uruguayan accepted his gift, lashing inside Reva’s near-post.

Complete contrast
The drama was in complete contrast to a tepid first half, in which Dynamo had the better of what few chances there were. Shatskikh, was denied after 18 minutes by an astonishing double save from the impressive Chimenti.

Double save
Sent through after a neat interchange between Rincón and Valentin Belkevich, Shatskikh hit his first effort low, only to see it kicked away by the right foot of Chimenti. Shatskikh collected the loose ball, but Chimenti was back on his feet to push away his follow-up, diving away to his right. Rincón then headed a third effort over the bar.

Bar and post
Six minutes later, both sides hit the bar in the space of 20 seconds. First Fresi got on the end of Olivera's cross six metres from goal, only to see it rebound to safety. Dynamo countered quickly, and, as László Bodnár's cross reached Belkevich at the back-post the Belarussian international drove his low angled drive against the far post.

Substitutions
Having gone behind, Dynamo coach Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko introduced Florin Cernat and Jerko Leko, and both players had their chances to grab a lifeline for Dynamo. Leko fired a volley just wide on 75 minutes, and soon after Cernat saw a header blocked before Shatskikhs’s follow up was blocked.

Chimenti on-song
At that stage it was all Dynamo, but the Ukrainian side have never beaten Italian opposition in the Champions League, and, with Chimenti denying Cernat again with ten minutes to go, they were not to break that record.

Juventus survive
Juventus clung on to take all three points, and secure their position at the top of the group, while Dynamo will have to be content with a place in the UEFA Cup as Newcastle United FC beat Feyenoord 3-2.