sporting bow out with a win published: thursday 13 december 2007, 0.20cet
sporting clube de portugal 3-0 fc dynamo kyiv the home side finished their campaign in style as the ukrainian visitors ended group f without a point.
by andy brassell from estádio josé alvalade
sporting clube de portugal will go into the uefa cup in good spirits after ending their group f campaign with their first home win of this season's uefa champions league against a spirited fc dynamo kyiv.
sporting success goals from anderson polga, captain joão moutinho and liedson meant the lisbon club matched their highest points tally in the competition and inflicted a a sixth successive defeat on the ukrainian visitors, already guaranteed to finish bottom of the section. dynamo therefore become only the eighth club to finish the a group stage of the uefa champions league without a single point.
dynamic dynamo dynamo had started determined to avoid that unwanted honour and give their small but noisy band of followers something to reward their faith. in the second minute oleh gusev raced on to a through-ball and his shot was pushed around the post by rui patrício. that proved misleading, however, as the home side swiftly gained the upper hand with 18-year-old debutant adrien silva looking particularly composed in midfield.
sporting chances ten minutes in abel's cross was nodded down by liedson to give milan purović a clear chance he poked just wide and sporting came even closer midway through the first half as abel unleashed a speculative 30-metre shot that clipped the top of the crossbar. the visitors carved out an excellent opening of their own three minutes past the half-hour, ismaël bangoura turning smartly before forcing an excellent low save from rui patrício, and the breakthrough did finally arrive two minutes later – at the other end.
polga composure liedson touched the ball beyond andriy nesmachniy on the edge of the dynamo penalty area and was promptly felled, giving polga – who had scored his first goal for sporting in kiev on matchday 2 – the chance to slot past taras lutsenko from the penalty spot. the lead might have been further increased before half-time, maksim shatskikh blocking another purović effort and the goalkeeper touching over a thunderous long-range shot from izmailov as dynamo battled to stay in the game.
sucker punch a slow start to the second half helped the visitors compose themselves and begin to push forward, goran gavrančić and shatskikh combining neatly to find serhiy rebrov in space, but the veteran pulled his shot well wide. dynamo substitute kravets artem's low cross was then deflected against the post by polga, who had scored an own goal in sporting's last uefa champions league home game against roma and, perhaps inevitably, the home side produced a sucker punch. izmailov broke down the left on to adrien silva's incisive pass and cut back for joão moutinho to side-foot into the far corner.
liedson third dynamo, trying to impress new coach yuri semin, who will succeed oleh luzhny after the game, battled on but sporting had another great chance when purović met a miguel veloso cross with a header that was cleared off the line. liedson finally wrapped things up in the 89th minute, touching his fourth uefa champions league goal of the season over lutsenko from substitute vukčević's pass, sustaining an injury as he collided with the goalkeeper – but it could not spoil sporting's night.
