Dinamo leave it late to seal HJK fate

Luis Ibáñez finally made the breakthrough for NK Dinamo Zagreb with a last-minute winner on a night when Finnish titleholders HJK Helsinki rarely troubled their hosts in their UEFA Champions League third qualifying round decider.

Argentinian defender Ibáñez came in from the left to fire past Ville Wallén in the HJK goal in the final minute of normal time, with the custodian having just fended away a Sammir effort. It was a satisfying conclusion to a contest in which Krunoslav Jurčić's men, already 2-1 ahead from the first leg, had found themselves unable to convert possession into goals.

Milan Badelj started the trend on five minutes as he fired just over, and while the Croatian side were looking adept at keeping their goalkeeper Ivan Kelava out of the action, goals to add to the first-leg advantage they had achieved in Helsinki last week proved to be hard to come by.

Mathias Lindström had a glimpse of goal for HJK on 67 minutes, heading off target from a free-kick but Dinamo continued to press, Fatos Bećiraj nodding over not long afterwards. Wallén then punched away a Jerko Leko shot, with Tonel firing over after Sammir delivered the loose ball back into the box. It might have been the last act of a frustrating night had Ibáñez not come good at the death.