Manchester City have booked a place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time in the club's history after barely breaking a sweat against Dynamo Kiev at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday evening.
Manuel Pellegrini's side played out a goalless draw, which included just four shots on target, but progressed into the next phase thanks to their 3-1 triumph in Ukraine almost three weeks ago.
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The main news of the first half was not a goal or a red card, but of an injury blow to City captain Vincent Kompany, who has already spent large chunks of the season on the sidelines.
The Belgian defender pulled his hamstring inside the first five minutes and immediately alerted the dugout with the realisation that he needed to return to the treatment table.
By the 25th minute, both of City's central defenders were off the pitch as Nicolas Otamendi also succumbed to injury, leaving Eliaquim Mangala and Martin Demichelis to marshall the backline.
In terms of activity on the pitch, it was rather lacklustre at the Etihad as neither side managed to cause much trouble in the final third.
City created a handful of openings, including one move which resulted in Yaya Toure sending the ball over the top for Pablo Zabaleta, who headed down towards the centre of the box, but none of his teammates was there to meet it.
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Joe Hart was not severely threatened, but he was the busier of the two goalkeepers as he pulled off numerous punched clearances, one of which was needed swiftly after the ball bounced right in front of him following a whipped-in cross.
Mangala struggled to settle into his role as he made a hash of a clearance after moving out of position, leaving a huge gap behind him.
The defender tried to smash the ball clear, but Miguel Veloso charged him down, resulting in the ball bouncing off him and into the path of Andriy Yarmolenko, whose return ball was poor.
City's first-half performance was summed up by Jesus Navas, who picked the ball up on the counter-attack and attempted to play it forward for Sergio Aguero on the overlap, but the winger's touch was too heavy and the ball trickled out for a goal kick.
After the break, the display was much of the same for the first 10 minutes or so, but City ramped up the pressure when Aguero charged past three players from the centre circle before getting brought down by Denys Garmash.
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Toure took the resulting free kick, and despite getting the ball over the wall, the Ivorian's shot was off target and it curled away from the top left corner.
The first real chance for City came in the 59th minute when Aguero met Silva's pass before knocking it to Toure first time. The midfielder then played the return pass over the top for the Argentine, who shot across the face of goal.
The home side came closer when Navas received the ball from Toure and unleashed a shot, which had the keeper beaten, but the ball smashed into the left-hand post.
Toure tried to get on the scoresheet by drilling the ball towards the centre of the goal. It was a positive move from City as Navas cut the ball back to the Ivorian, who was waiting on the edge of the area, but he was denied by the goalkeeper.
The home side ramped up the pressure and looked the more likely to break the deadlock, but given Dynamo's lacklustre display, many would have expected the Premier League side to have scored a handful of goals this evening.
The visiting side came close to getting on the scoresheet in the 84th minute when a cross into the box fell to Yarmolenko, who had a free header from six yards out, but he missed the target as the ball bounced wide.
It was not too embarrassing for the player, though, as the offside flag had already been raised. Minutes later, Yarmolenko was involved again as he believed that he deserved a penalty after going to ground following a tussle with Fernandinho, but it was not to be.
In the final few minutes of the match, Hart had a handful of saves to make and managed to keep a clean sheet.
The quarter-final draw will be made in Nyon on Friday.
Danielle Joynson
