Dynamo stagger on after Rapid success

FC Dynamo Kyiv made it through to the UEFA Europa League round of 32 as Group G runners-up after a hectic encounter with SK Rapid Wien.

The Austrian side had the chance to snatch second place in the section from Dynamo with a victory and took an early lead through Terrence Boyd. Goals from Jeremain Lens and Oleh Gusev turned the tie in Dynamo's favour, but Oleh Blokhin's men looked far from comfortable until Miguel Veloso's 70th-minute free-kick left Rapid needing three goals to make it.

A giddy tone was set after six minutes when Boyd clipped past Olexandr Shovkovskiy from five metres out following a stylish move involving Marcel Sabitzer and Guido Burgstaller, but Dynamo were not wrong-footed for long. Ognjen Vukojević hammered one shot over and, on 22 minutes, crossed for Lens, who chested down before guiding the ball past Ján Novota.

Ideye Brown then set up Dynamo's second, doggedly keeping possession on the touchline before floating a pass across Novota for the incoming Gusev to ping into the net. Dynamo would have loved to have put the brakes on at that point, but Rapid would not be contained, Shovkovskiy twice called on to make saves from Steffen Hofmann.

Dynamo should have removed all doubt within two minutes of the restart, when Younes Belhanda took the ball past Novota, nicking it in from the touchline for Andriy Yarmolenko, but the forward had his head in his hands after steering the ball wide from close in. Rapid kept pushing and Dynamo never looked comfortable, until salvation came as Miguel Veloso whipped a free-kick right over the wall and inside Novota's left-hand post.

Dynamo will now form part of a four-strong Ukrainian contingent in the round of 32 alongside FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, FC Chornomorets Odesa and UEFA Champions League refugees FC Shakhtar Donetsk.