Dynamo Kyiv 1 - 0 Maccabi Tel Aviv: Dynamo Kiev edge Maccabi Tel Aviv to reach Champions League last 16

Posted Thursday, December 10, 2015 by PA

Denys Garmash's goal was enough to give Dynamo Kiev a 1-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv which sends them through to the knockout stages of the Champions League.

Garmash scored in the 16th minute, moments after Dynamo's star winger Andriy Yarmolenko had gone off injured.

Dynamo responded to taking the lead by putting the brakes on, as they shut down a match which was already being played in a stifled atmosphere as Dynamo serve their stadium ban following racist behaviour from fans in the match against Chelsea.

The hosts pushed forward in the early going, with Serhiy Rybalka seeing an early shot blocked before Junior Moraes was denied by the goalkeeper.

They lost Yarmolenko to injury in the 15th minute after he was fouled by Avi Rikan, but made the most of the situation by scoring from the resulting free-kick.

Rybalka's testing cross took a deflection, forcing a fine save from Predrag Rajkovic, but unfortunately for him the ball fell straight to Garmash who finished on the rebound.

With the lead in their pocket, and Yarmolenko off injured, Dynamo immediately became more conservative, dominating possession but showing little interest in pushing too far forward, and they failed to create another chance of note before half-time.

Four minutes into the second half, Garmash squandered a fine opportunity for a second as he fired wide, but there were soon warnings that one might not be enough as Tal Ben Haim had a shot blocked before Oleksandr Shovkovskiy denied Dor Micha moments later.

Dynamo began to add a little urgency in response, but Derlis Gonzalez's shot was easily held by Rajkovic in the 67th minute.

Omri Ben Harush then got in the way of a Rybalka shot, but as the game moved towards the latter stages, Dynamo again sort to slow the game down and see it out.

With Chelsea beating Porto 2-0, Dynamo settle for second place in the group, two points behind the leaders and one ahead of Porto in third, while Maccabi ended the group stage without a single point to their name.