Steaua Bucuresti 0 - 2 Dynamo Kyiv: Kiev clinch top spot with victory

Posted Friday, December 12, 2014 by PA

Dynamo Kiev struck twice in the final quarter to end Steaua Bucharest's Europa League hopes with a 2-0 win in Romania.

Steaua paid the price for their first-half profligacy and Dynamo took advantage to finish an impressive campaign in fine style.

Andriy Yarmolenko and Jeremain Lens were on target as the Ukrainian side finished top of Group J, with Aalborg securing the runners-up spot.

Aalborg lost 2-0 to bottom-placed Rio Ave in Portugal, but that was still enough for the unheralded Danish club to qualify for the last 32 of the competition.

Steaua would have taken second place had they beaten Dynamo, but the visitors made the most of their rare scoring opportunities to finish the qualifying campaign with five wins from six games.

Steaua had early chances to score through Alexandru Chipciu and Cristian Tanase, while Lucian Sanmartean also went close with an angled drive from 20 yards.

But Oleksandr Shovkovskiy was in impressive form in the Dynamo goal and Kiev grew in confidence as the first half wore on.

Yarmolenko tested Giedrius Arlauskis in the Steaua goal before half-time and the home side's attacks began to peter out harmlessly after the break.

There was 19 minutes left when Yarmolenko was left unmarked 12 yards out to fire home to repeat his scoring act against Steaua in Kiev's 3-1 home victory on matchday two in October.

Steaua pushed forward for an equaliser but Dutch striker Lens finished them off with a delightful 25-yard curled shot in the final seconds.