dinamo come up short against psv published: thursday 24 october 2013, 22.59cet
gnk dinamo zagreb 0-0 psv eindhoven
the croatian champions earned a first group b point but might have hoped for more given the chances they created.
a first uefa europa league group b point was a less-than-satisfying return for gnk dinamo zagreb as they failed to turn pressure into goals at home against psv eindhoven.
despite bringing an end to coach branko ivanković's third spell in charge earlier in the week, dinamo did not look like a club in crisis. seemingly eager to impress stand-in boss zoran mamić, they piled the pressure on psv, but while el arbi hilal and junior fernándes had plenty of sights of goal, przemysław tytoń kept a clean sheet relatively comfortably.
tytoń's goal was peppered with shots before the break; ivo pinto fired over and the polish goalkeeper twice had to be alert to deny the menacing hilal, making a save after the algerian forward wrong-footed his marker outside the box, and then keeping his nerve to block after the croatian champions were momentarily four-on-two in the psv area.
dinamo's defensive anchor man josip šimunić showed all the wisdom of his 35 years to hook a couple of dangerous balls away to safety before the break, and it was a measure of dinamo's resolve that psv did not get a shot on target until the 54th minute: a forceful stijn schaars free-kick which oliver zelenika caught with minimum fuss.
fernándes snatched at a few chances at the other end, and duje Čop blasted a shot against team-mate arijan ademi with the psv rearguard creaking, but the visitors could easily have snatched a win. memphis depay twice fizzed in powerful free-kicks, drawing a save from zelenika with the second, after ola toivonen's header had stretched the goalkeeper. ademi had tytoń scrambling with a shot at the death, but psv survived to move second in the group.
