Chelsea hit the woodwork twice but couldn’t find a winner as they earned a 0-0 draw at Dynamo Kiev in their Champions League Group G encounter.
Eden Hazard hit the post early on for Jose Mourinho’s side, who also hit the crossbar through Willian’s free kick, while they had a strong appeal for a penalty turned down.
Willian then fired wide of the target late on, but neither side could find a winner in an even contest on Tuesday night.
The result leaves the Blues third in the group after Porto’s win over Maccabi Tel-Aviv, and they face the Ukranian side again in two weeks when they meet at Stamford Bridge.
Mourinho brought Hazard back into the side after resting him for the 2-0 win over Aston Villa, and he nearly repaid his manager’s faith as he cut in from the left and rifled a low shot against the post early on.
The Blues looked much more confident than in recent weeks, passing the ball around well and pressing high when they weren’t in possession.
And they thought they should have had a chance to take the lead as Cesc Fabregas drifted inside and went down under pressure from two defenders as Yevhen Khacheridi came in with a clumsy challenge, but the referee waved his appeal away.
Sergei Rebrov’s side had chances of their own, with makeshift full-back Domagoj Vida making life difficult for Kurt Zouma, playing on the right-hand side of Chelsea’s defence.
Vida created a good chance for Vitaliy Buyalsky, squaring a low ball to the midfielder, who fired an effort wide courtesy of a deflection, after John Terry and Gary Cahill threw themselves at the effort with some committed last-ditch defending.
The visitors started the second half as well as they did the first, and Willian went close after winning a free kick as he was brought down 25 yards out, firing the resulting set piece on to the underside of the crossbar.
Hazard then had another good opportunity around the hour mark as Fabregas found the ever-involved Willian, who pulled it back to the edge of the box for the Belgian. The Chelsea man fired a high effort at goal but a vital block from Serhiy Rybalka diverted his effort off target.
Asmir Begovic was soon called into action twice in quick succession, palming behind a Derlis Gonzalez effort from a tight angle, before flicking the Kiev man’s cross away with Aleksandar Dragovic racing in to meet it.
But as the game went on, the tempo seemed to drop massively and both sides looked content with the draw.
The hosts produced some good pressure late on, but it was Chelsea who nearly won it in stoppage time with a sweeping counter which ended with a curling Willian effort which whistled just past the far post.
Chelsea stay third in Group G having failed to win their two away games in the competition so far, but Mourinho will be buoyed by a much-improved team display ahead of their meeting with Kiev at Stamford Bridge in two weeks.
Source SkySports
