Eden Hazard was denied a dream Chelsea return by the post as Jose Mourinho’s men were twice kept out by the woodwork in Kiev.
Chelsea dominated long periods of their Champions League clash against Dynamo Kiev, but could not break the deadlock and still have work to do to qualify from Group G.
Hazard, recalled to the starting line-up after being left out against Aston Villa, hit the post and Willian struck the underside of the bar as Chelsea were frustrated by the hosts.
Manager Mourinho, though, will be feeling far more positive about the performance of his Chelsea team and, in particular, Hazard, who ran himself into the ground in the Olympic Stadium.
Mourinho had claimed Hazard needed to work harder defensively and the Portuguese appeared to compensate for the 24-year-old’s return by leaving out full-back Baba Rahman.
Having originally questioned Hazard’s work-rate and refused to offer him any guarantees, Mourinho changed his tune ahead of kick-off by saying: “Eden Hazard is a phenomenal player and we want him to be back to his normal game.”
Hazard almost made the perfect start to his comeback, when he was prevented from opening the scoring by a combination of Dynamo goalkeeper Olexandr Shovkovskiy and the post.
Cesc Fabregas found Hazard inside the penalty area and the Belgian shifted the ball out of his feet, but Shovkovskiy managed to push his shot on to the upright.
Certainly, Hazard was a lot busier than he has been in recent weeks and made a very obvious attempt to get back to help his defenders, as well as dribbling at both Dynamo full-backs and producing some of his trademark turns.
Rahman had looked suspect defensively against Aston Villa, so Kurt Zouma took over at right-back and Cesar Azpilicueta offered more protection behind Hazard on the left side of defence.
The reshuffle worked, as Chelsea swarmed all over the hosts during the first half but could not get the goal their efforts deserved.
Shovkovskiy saved from both Fabregas and Willian, before Nemanja Matic, recalled at the expense of teenager Ruben Loftus-Cheek, squandered a wonderful chance to put Chelsea ahead.
Matic burst his way past four Dynamo players into the box, but the midfielder seemed as surprised as everyone else to find himself in front of goal and stabbed the ball wide with only Shovkovskiy to beat.
Just as he was against Aston Villa, Ramires was excellent in the centre of midfield, retrieving the ball for Mourinho’s men and starting attacks, while Willian was causing the Dynamo defenders plenty of problems.
The Brazilian started the game as Chelsea’s top scorer with four goals all from free-kicks and he nearly added to that tally from another set piece.
Willian has specialised the art of sending a free-kick past the onrushing attackers and into the corner of net, but his effort on 19 minutes narrowly bounced wide of the Dynamo post.
Having complained that Premier League referees are “afraid” of giving Chelsea decisions, Mourinho will have also been upset that Slovenian official Damir Skomina did not award his side a first-half penalty.
Fabregas danced his way into the box and went down under a challenge from Serhiy Rybalka. The Spaniard was the only man to appeal for a penalty and replays suggested he was right to.
Gary Cahill had a header saved from a Fabregas, but despite dominating the opening 45 minutes, Chelsea also suffered a couple of nervous moments at the back.
Vitaliy Buyalskiy was Dynamo’s most dangerous player and he twice forced Asmir Begovic into saves. The first shot was straight at the Chelsea goalkeeper, but the second had Begovic diving to his right to push the ball around the post.
Chelsea were quickly on the attack again after the restart and Willian won a free-kick in a central position about 20 yards out. The 27-year-old took the set piece himself and sent a brilliant effort over the wall that bounced off the underside of the crossbar to safety.
While the woodwork was undoubtedly responsible for keeping the score goalless, so was some wasteful finishing.
Mourinho’s men should have taken the lead in the 53rd minute, when Hazard broke with the ball and had four Chelsea players queuing up ahead of him to shoot at goal. He elected to pass to Fabregas, but the former Arsenal man sent a low drive straight at Shovkovskiy.
Hazard was the next Chelsea man to be denied as Rybalka threw himself in the way of his shot after Willian had found his team-mate in space inside the Dynamo penalty area.
Chelsea were close to being caught by a sucker punch, however, as Begovic made two more vital saves. Derlis Gonzalez looked set to score, but the Bosnia international stood his ground to keep out the Dynamo forward’s shot and then remained alert to tip away a dangerous cross.
Eden Hazard suffers a moment of frustration in Kiev
Domagoj Vida should have done better than to lift the ball high over Begovic’s crossbar with just over 20 minutes remaining when he had time and space to pick his spot.
Sensing that Dynamo may be starting to put some pressure on his team, Mourinho decided to make a change with 15 minutes remaining as Oscar replaced Fabregas.
The substitution swung the game back towards the visitors, but they could not find the goal that would have made qualification from the group stages look a lot more certain with Porto beating Maccabi Tel Aviv.
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