Chelsea 2 Dynamo Kiev 1
This was a horribly scrappy victory, after a performance that was unconvincing for long periods and gripped by spasms of tension throughout. But, for a Chelsea team who have found ridiculous ways to defeat themselves in recent weeks, it was still a win to be cherished.
José Mourinho, hands sunk deep into his pockets, had been unmoved by the one real flash of quality which earned his team the points that put them second in their group. Willian, such a consistent performer in a downbeat and depressing campaign, had strode up to a free-kick around 25 yards from goal, connected sweetly as Dynamo Kyiv’s wall sprang to block, and watched as the ball flew beyond Oleksandr Shovkovskiy and into the top corner. The goal was a thing of beauty and, coming seven minutes from time, knocked the stuffing out of the Ukrainian challenge. For the hosts, it offered hope.
This game had been played out to the crowd's chorusing of Mourinho's name, the chant echoing around the arena as if on a loop while the manager prowled his technical area and his players poured forward eagerly, although their attacks regularly ran aground against the massed ranks of the Dynamo defence. The urgency had been Chelsea's from the outset, personified by the scuttling runs of Willian and Ramires, with Oscar gliding inside from the left with menace. The Brazilian had retained his place with Cesc Fàbregas' recall leaving Eden Hazard on the bench. Last season's player of the year has become an enigma, a figure the management struggle to incorporate into a team shorn of confidence seeking to rebuild through sheer hard work.
The Belgian's effervescence has been badly missed this season and, for long periods here, the hosts had cried out for those sparks of invention: the incisive pass; the trick or flick to create space and unhinge a blanket defence. Dynamo are not a team prone to wilting. They have conceded only five goals in their domestic league – three of those were in their solitary defeat, at home to the leaders, Shakhtar Donetsk – with the midfield screen of Serhiy Rybalka and Serhiy Sydorchuk, combined with imposing centre-halves, suffocating Chelsea's intent in a frustrating opening half-hour.
Sights of goal were glimpsed from distance, the crowd cursing when Domagoj Vida sprung to thwart Oscar from underneath the crossbar after Fàbregas had clipped a centre over Shovkovskiy. The nerves were mounting, for all that Kyiv had offered precious little threat of their own, and it took two rare dashes of fortune to lance the tension. Asmir Begovic's clearance was scuffed up-field but ended up as a pass perfectly threaded through for Baba Rahman. The Ghanaian then swung over a centre, nominally aimed at Diego Costa, which flew beyond to Willian on the right flank. The forward's contribution was more precise, teasing space from Vitorino Antunes before fizzing in a cross which Aleksandar Dragovic, diving goalwards, nodded inadvertently inside Shovkovskiy's near-post.
Yet, even with a lead, Chelsea still left for half-time raging at perceived injustice. In stoppage time at the end of the period, Fàbregas threaded a pass through Dynamo's defence for Costa to chase. The forward went shoulder to shoulder with Yevhen Khacheridi and successfully held him off, only to crumple to the turf as Dragovic closed in from the other side. The tumble was too eager, the connection too vague, with Mourinho's reaction too familiar. He was still smiling manically in resigned disbelief when the whistle sounded, with Costa and John Terry making clear their disgust to the Czech referee.
The hosts desperately needed a second goal to ease their jitters, memories of recent capitulations from winning positions against Southampton and Liverpool still raw, the visitors sensing the anxiety. Kurt Zouma's fine tackle, nicking the ball away from Artem Kravets on the stretch as the striker bore down on goal on the restart, was timely. The Ukrainians' appeals for a penalty after the ball struck Ramires' chest in the box – his arm, while close, was not at an unnatural angle – were optimistic but prompted wails of frustration, Serhiy Rebrov doing his best impression of Mourinho's outrage in the Dynamo dug-out.
That flurry of pressure suggested the hosts were on the retreat, the eagerness with which the substitute Denys Garmash discomfited Chelsea’s rearguard and allowed another replacement, Júnior Moraes, a sight at goal disconcerting. Begovic pushed that effort away.
Yet at least the home side, waved forward by their manager, refused to be becalmed for long. They should have celebrated a second only for Zouma to prod wide from Willian’s free-kick while Costa and Garmash wrestled unnoticed in the six-yard box.
Begovic and Nemanja Matic impeded each other at the resultant delivery with the ball reaching Dragovic at the far post, with his volley flying beyond the bodies on the line. Then came Rybalka’s foul on the newly introduced Hazard and Willan’s glorious intervention. Chelsea, at last, have some respite.
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