Kiev trounced by Sporting Lisbon

Sporting Lisbon 3 Dynamo Kiev 0

Sporting Lisbon rounded off their Champions League adventure in style with a futile three-goal rout of Dynamo Kiev tonight.

Anderson Polga got the ball rolling with a penalty 10 minutes before the break and captain Joao Moutinho made the points safe with a cool side-footed finish 22 minutes after the restart.

In between, Tiberiu Ghioane had nearly got the goal Kiev‘s efforts deserved when he hit the post, but the tie was killed when Liedson poached the third one minute from time.

The result – which could have no bearing on the final Group F standings – sees Sporting go into the UEFA Cup on a high having claimed their seventh point from a possible 18, while Kiev must reflect on a 100% losing record.

Despite the insignificance of the tie, the opening was frantic.

Within 90 seconds, Dynamo‘s Oleg Gusev had burst through Sporting‘s defence and forced Pedro Rui Patricio to tip the ball around the post, and three minutes later Sebastian Adrien Silva thundered a 25-yard drive against defender Goran Gavrancic at the other end.

Silva and Marat Izmailov maintained the action by sending two more shots wide of Kiev‘s posts, but whereas the drama was a welcome surprise, most in the stadium were stunned to silence by Milan Purovic‘s horrific ninth minute miss.

The striker found himself unmarked in front of goal with yards of space on all sides when Fernando Abel delivered the ball to his feet, but with time at his disposal, he rushed his shot and the mishit went wide.

It was a let off for Kiev, but they did not make the most of it.

Further Sporting efforts from Izmailov and Moutinho followed, before Abel provided the clearest evidence of Kiev‘s vulnerability by rattling their bar from 40 yards.

Kiev finally seemed to respond to the threat, Milos Ninkovic firing wide in the moments after, and Ismael Bangoura forcing a superb save from Patricio in the 32nd minute, but ultimately only one side looked like scoring and they soon did from the penalty spot.

Andriy Nesmachniy was Kiev‘s culprit, mistiming his challenge on Liedson, and Polga buried the kick in Taras Lutsenko‘s bottom right corner.

Moutinho and Izmailov both came close as Sporting finished the half with a flurry, while Kiev trundled off looking like a beaten team.

The Ukrainians re-emerged in positive spirits and their efforts were nearly rewarded in the 50th minute when Maxim Shatskikh‘s cross cannoned off Polga and into the path of Sergei Rebrov. Unfortuanetly for Kiev fans, the former Tottenham Hotspur hitman pulled his effort across goal and wide of the post.

Sporting, who wasted a chance of their own through Ronny de Araujo, looked in danger of conceding and never was threat more apparent than when Ghioane deflected a Gusev shot against the post.

It was turning into a close affair, but then, in the 67th minute, the tie was effectively over when Moutinho side-footed into the bottom corner from 12 yards.

Half chances came and went as the two sides gamely grappled for the game‘s third goal, but, predictably, it was Sporting who bagged it.

Simon Vukcevic supplied the 89th minute pass from the left and Liedson slid in to poke the ball past the keeper.