Much about this result was predictable. José Mourinho had indicated in advance that he would be content with a draw and as soon as a first-half penalty decision went against Chelsea, it was only to be expected that the manager would criticise the referee in a manner that reflected his recent fine from the FA.
“The referee was weak and naive,” Mourinho said after Damir Skomina, the referee, did not award a spot-kick when Cesc Fàbregas was tackled by Sergei Rybalka.
This was a clear and, indeed, impish reference to Arsène Wenger using the same words to describe the refereeing of Mike Dean after Arsenal’s defeat at Stamford Bridge last month. Wenger was not punished by the FA, but when Mourinho said that officials were “afraid to give decisions to Chelsea” after the defeat by Southampton, the Portuguese received a suspended one-match stadium ban and a fine of £50,000.
Mourinho felt that his team had been placed last night in a predicament similar to that of Scotland, knocked out of the Rugby World Cup after one controversial refereeing decision.
“The referee was very good. I’m serious,” the Chelsea manager said. “He made one mistake. And, for example, in the Rugby World Cup, the referee in the Scotland game was very good but made one mistake. And that mistake cost Scotland.”
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Chelsea, though, can still progress from the group stage. Porto took control of group G last night with their victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv, but Mourinho had said that he would be happy if his team took four points from their two games against Dynamo Kiev and that aim is realistic. Perhaps it was more important, in any case, for Chelsea to keep a clean sheet than worry about shifts in attacking momentum.
Mourinho used the word solid several times to describe the performance and, after such a surprisingly brittle start to the season by his team, this quality, more than any, was needed.
“The team made a good performance, solid,” he said. “A performance is only solid when the team, as a team, is OK. We had control of the game for 70, 75 minutes. We had control, initiative, chances, hit the post, had the penalty. We had everything but didn’t score.”
It was not just that Chelsea were denied a penalty, they saw a Willian free kick hit the woodwork and Eden Hazard looked set to score from a tight angle, only for the Dynamo goalkeeper push the shot on to a post.
In the end, Chelsea were relieved with the point because when Dynamo sparked into life, they were almost irrepressible. Mourinho knew full well which player would cause him problems. Andriy Yarmolenko, Kiev’s tall winger, has been linked with a move to the Barclays Premier League and although he is highly unlikely to sign for Chelsea, Mourinho paid him the compliment of asking César Azpilicueta to pay special heed to Kiev’s “best player”.
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Yarmolenko was quiet in the first half, but his sudden surge of class lifted the home side and they became more adventurous, their movement more intelligent, and Chelsea were rattled. If Yarmolenko makes Dynamo tick, then Hazard is at the core of what makes Chelsea turn the revolutions — but the Belgian has been less influential this season and was left out of the starting line-up by his manager on Saturday, with Mourinho subsequently explaining that his creative qualities were more or less irrelevant in a battle to win points and the need to defend better as a group.
Last night the 24-year-old was back, having been offered an olive branch of sorts from his manager, and he showed incisive intelligence in small spurts.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek was also criticised this week by his manager, but the teenager did not even make the substitutes’ bench. Nemanja Matic, however, has been nurtured of late by Mourinho and looked to have overcome his confidence issues when he burst forward on an unstoppable run, only to place his shot wide.
The Olimpiyskyi Stadium, where there was a vast army and police cordon, was intimidating, as expected, in spite of its running track. Kiev, coached by Sergei Rebrov, the former Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United striker, were stinging from their first defeat in 39 games, losing at home to Shakhtar Donetsk on Friday, but took their time to let their annoyance show.
Chelsea, then, have produced two “solid” performances in succession, but there was a warning from the manager that this does not necessarily bode well for how his side will cope with West Ham on Saturday.
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“Dynamo are a different profile of opponent,” Mourinho said. “It’s not comparable with a British team. But I think it’s always difficult to play Ukrainian teams, Russian teams. They’re physically strong, runners, box-to-box people in midfield, strong in the air, difficult at set pieces. It’s never easy.”
Dynamo Kiev ( 4-2-3-1): O Shovkovskiy — D Silva, Y Khacheridi, A Dragovic, D Vida — S Rybalka, S Sydorchuk — A Yarmolenko, V Buyalskiy (sub: D Garmash, 83min), D González — A Kravets (sub: Júnior Moraes, 79). Substitutes not used: O Rybka, M Veloso, Antunes, R Petrovic, O Gusev. Booked: Buyalskiy.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): A Begovic — K Zouma, J Terry, G Cahill, C Azpilicueta — Ramires, N Matic — Willian, C Fàbregas (sub: Oscar, 75), E Hazard — D Costa. Substitutes not used: J Blackman, B Rahman, R Falcao, JO Mikel, B Traoré, Kenedy. Booked: Zouma.
Referee: D Skomina.
● Two goals in four minutes just before half-time helped Porto to a 2-0 home win over Maccabi Tel Aviv and top spot in group G.
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The breakthrough arrived after Yacine Brahimi teased the Maccabi defence down the left flank and laid the ball back to Miguel Layún, whose cross was headed in powerfully by Vincent Aboubakar.
The scorer then set up the second with a rampaging run through the middle, drawing defenders to him before slipping a pass left to Yacine Brahimi. The Algerian had a clear run on goal and made no mistake.
● Peter Drury apologised after the BT Sport commentator four times named the Chelsea goalkeeper as Thibaut Courtois instead of Asmir Begovic.