After winning the first leg of this third-round qualifier 1-0, Pafos found themselves well placed to go within one final step of a maiden UCL main draw appearance. And their prospects took a monumental boost inside just two minutes, when a bout of penalty box pinball ended with the ball dropping favourably for Mislav Orsic, who made no mistake in doubling the hosts’ aggregate advantage.
Backed by an Alphamega Stadium in full voice, Pafos then nearly went into dreamland before the clock had even hit 15 minutes, as Muamer Tanković arrowed an effort towards the corner, only for Ruslan Neshcheret to heroically tip it away to safety.
Vlad Dragomir and Joao Correia then both missed opportunities to give Dynamo a real mountain to climb, but there was little sign of those squandered chances yielding punishment.
Arguably Dynamo’s ‘best’ chance of getting back into the tie came via Volodymyr Brazhko’s free-kick from a promising position, which was fired straight down the throat of Neofytos Michael - an anticlimactic effort that more or less summarised the visitors’ timid first-half performance.
The visitors were going to have to produce something special after the break to have any chance of taking the next step on the road to the league phase. But any lingering hopes they did have were doused within 10 minutes of the restart, when Orsic turned provider with a pinpoint delivery into the area that was swept home by Correia.
Now 3-0 up on aggregate, Pafos were understandably happy to take their foot off the gas, meaning that the second half was something of a training match. With a domestic fixture against Episentr looming, the feeling was mutual for Dynamo, who have duly dropped into the Europa League qualification play-off.
As for Pafos, they will have Red Star Belgrade as their final obstacle to an historic UCL main draw appearance..
Flashscore Man of the Match: Mislav Orsic (Pafos)