Kiev: FC Porto qualified for the knockout stage of the Champions League with two games to spare following a 0-0 draw at Dynamo Kiev on Tuesday. Porto lead Group A with 10 points, one ahead of Paris Saint-Germain after the French club won 4-0 against Dinamo Zagreb. Dynamo Kiev are third with four points, while Dinamo Zagreb have none. Both sides had five shots on target, but Porto controlled much of the game and had 10 percent more possession.
"One hundred percent I can't be satisfied," Porto coach Vitor Pereira said. "We expected some pressure from Dynamo in the first half, and that happened. They deserved that pressure. Porto had to adopt, some players had difficulty adopting. In the second half, we came together to bring things under control. "We should give Dynamo credit, they were a worthy opponent." The teams swapped possession often at the start in scrappy midfield skirmishes, but Porto eventually started to infiltrate Dynamo's box from the right flank.
However, it was the home team that created the first chance in the sixth minute when Marco Ruben had a close-range attempt that defender Eliaquim Mangala blocked. Porto's best chance in the half came when forward Jackson Martinez missed a diving header in the 35th minute following a series of crisp passes that started in their own half. The second half was a lot livelier, and Porto forward Silvestre Varela fired wide in the 50th minute while Dynamo's Andriy Yarmolenko's attempt a minute later from inside the box was blocked by goalkeeper Helton.
Yarmolenko also tested Helton in the 67th minute, and had a header saved in the 73rd. "We played for a positive result, the team did everything it could to get a favorable result," Dynamo interim coach Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko said. "It's difficult to find fault or criticism but there were some mistakes made out there. We faced a strong opponent, they dictated the game at times, but regretfully we couldn't score a goal. Only a victory today would have satisfied us, we didn't play for a draw." In the next round on Nov. 21, Dynamo Kiev play PSG and Porto host Dinamo Zagreb.
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