Champions League: Chelsea held to goalless draw, sit third in Group G

Chelsea dominated the game and was unlucky not to score after hitting the woodwork twice. (Source: Reuters)

Chelsea’s Champions League campaign hit more trouble Tuesday in a frustrating 0-0 draw against Dynamo Kiev in Group G.

Chelsea dominated the game and was unlucky not to score after hitting the woodwork twice through Eden Hazard and Willian.

On a chilly and breezy night in Ukraine, another good chance was missed by Nemanja Matic, who charged through the Dynamo defense but shot wide.

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Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho said his team “had control of the game for 70, 75 minutes” and “we had everything but we didn’t score.”

Mourinho claimed Cesc Fabregas should have won a penalty when he went to ground in the Dynamo box in the first half.

“It is a clear penalty,” Mourinho said. “The referee didn’t see it, the referee decided not to give it, I don’t know.”

Mourinho was recently fined and given a suspended stadium ban by the English Football Association after claiming officials were “afraid” to give Chelsea a penalty.

In Kiev, he called Slovenian referee Damir Skomina “weak and naive” in comments to British TV channel BT Sport, but avoided any suggestion he might have been biased. “I think the referee was very good. I think he made one mistake,” Mourinho told reporters.

Chelsea sits third in Group G at the halfway stage, one point and one place behind Dynamo.

The Ukrainian team came close when Vitaliy Buyalskiy and Derlis Gonzalez forced saves from Chelsea goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, who late on cut out a dangerous cross as Junior Moraes closed in.

‘I’m happy that we motivated ourselves to play against a very strong team,” Dynamo coach Serhiy Rebrov said. “I think the guys deserved praise.”

Dynamo had most of the possession, although on almost every other measure Chelsea was superior.

Misplaced passes by Dynamo, especially in the first half, allowed Chelsea to launch dangerous counterattacks, one of which saw Matic storm through the center of the defense in the 21st minute, beating three players before sending a shot wide of the post.

Earlier, in the first real chance of the game, Hazard had hit the far post, shooting on the rebound from a blocked effort by Fabregas.

Willian’s set pieces also caused problems for an often nervous Dynamo defense that was coming off a 3-0 loss to its closest domestic rival, Shakhtar Donetsk. The Brazilian hit a 47th-minute free kick that struck the underside of the crossbar and bounced back toward a group of Chelsea players before being hurriedly cleared by Dynamo.

Fabregas was another Chelsea player to test Dynamo goalkeeper Oleksandr Shovkovskiy, while center-back Gary Cahill came close at a 35th-minute corner, forcing a good save.

Dynamo’s chances were sporadic, some of the best coming through Buyalskiy, who forced a save from Begovic in the 12th minute and shot narrowly wide later in the half.

Dynamo managed some good periods of pressure later in the game, when Mourinho said his team had fallen into a “trap” of not knowing whether to risk defeat for the sake of victory. Young Paraguay winger Gonzalez received the ball from Andriy Yarmolenko and unleashed a powerful shot that Begovic could only parry for a corner.

Winger Yarmolenko, Dynamo’s star player, had been tipped as a threat by Mourinho but had relatively little impact for much of the game as he was largely neutralized by Cesar Azpilicueta.

Group leader Porto beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-0 in the other Group G match of the night.