Dinamo relieved to have beaten the freeze

Securing a first UEFA Champions League point of the season meant so much to GNK Dinamo Zagreb, whose forward Ivan Krstanović – the Croatian champions' first scorer in the section – felt the home side deserved their 1-1 draw against FC Dynamo Kyiv. Defender Šime Vrsaljko bemoaned the fact there are no more Champions League games to play for a team he feels has "definitely progressed", and targeted a return to the competition next season. Dynamo's Nigerian midfielder Lukman Haruna, meanwhile, felt his side were hampered by the snow in the Croatian capital, but is looking forward to playing UEFA Europa League football.

Ivan Krstanović, Dinamo forward
We had many chances to score and we deserved the point. We all knew the story about the negative records out there, but we managed to score. For the penalty I just took the ball and didn't think too much. This goal is for my family.

Fatos Beqiraj, Dinamo forward
It was tough game because of the conditions. It wasn't beautiful, but we didn't lose. We had a few chances – one of the big ones was mine, but I couldn't score. We have young team and next season we could pick up more points with Dinamo in the Champions League. This one point we salvaged in our final game is a big motivating factor for all of us.

Šime Vrsaljko, Dinamo defender
We are all happy now, because a lot of people thought we would lose. From the start of the competition through until this last game we definitely progressed and it's just too bad that there are no more games for us in the Champions League. We hope to be back in the competition next season.

Lukman Haruna, Dynamo midfielder
It was a very difficult game today because we played in the snow and we just had to handle the weather. The weather today was very bad and we couldn't get a reading of the game because there was too much snow. We just have to accept that, you know. We drew 1-1 and that's the most important thing. In the last minute we lost a bit of concentration but this is football and we just have to face up to that. We have to take things one step at a time. We are out of the Champions League but we are looking forward to playing in the Europa League so that's the most important thing for now.

Andriy Yarmolenko, Dynamo forward
It's hard to say anything about the game, because you saw the pitch and the weather. Fighting qualities came to the fore, and I think we did well. It was the first time I've had to play on this kind of pitch. It was very hard. We just hit the ball like back in school, when there used to be bad pitches. It was like that.

For my goal, I won't lie and say that I saw the goalkeeper coming out - I just hit it towards the goal, and it just so happened that the ball flew in beautifully.

Now we're off on our holidays, and I'm concentrating only on that break. I don't want to plan ahead, but Dynamo Kyiv are Dynamo Kyiv and we must go out there whoever is in front of us and play to win. How far we'll go, we'll see that after the holiday.