Manchester City reaches Champions League quarter-final for 1st time ever

Even on a historic night in the Champions League, fans of Manchester City had a reason to be upset.

A dull 0-0 draw against Dynamo Kyiv on Tuesday was enough for City to beat the Ukrainian side 3-1 on aggregate and clinch a spot in its first-ever Champions League quarter-final.

But it also robbed the Premier League side of its two starting centre-backs, Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi, who departed the match in the first half with injuries.

Kompany had to signal for a substitution just five minutes into the proceedings. As he tried to get away from Kyiv winger Oleh Gusev, the City captain appeared to pull a muscle.

Kompany's calf has bothered him all season, and Manuel Pellegrini confirmed in a post-match news conference that the Belgian had aggravated the same problem. It is the 14th such injury he has suffered since signing with the club in 2008.

Teammate Otamendi also required a change before the interval, the result of a collision with Vitaliy Buyalskiy in midfield.

Related: Pellegrini confirms Kompany suffered another calf injury vs. Dynamo Kyiv​

The rest of the evening at the Etihad produced utterly deflating football, with all of four shots on target between the two sides. City had done enough in Kyiv last month to simply avoid a catastrophe at home.

"With the Champions League, we are trying to reach at least a final. It's hard but today it was job done. Not a great performance but we are really pleased," said defender Pablo Zabaleta. "It is a shame to have lost our two centre-backs. They were doing really well, but we have a strong squad."

Eights years after an Abu Dhabi takeover that changed its standing in European football, City has managed to clear yet another hurdle. Held in the round of 16 by Barcelona the previous two seasons, the Citizens made another step in their evolution.

They became the seventh different English club to reach the quarter-final stage of the competition, joining France and Spain as the countries with the most representatives.

"It is a very important achievement for the club. Before we could not do it, we were very unlucky. It is not normal to play against Barcelona twice in the last-16," said Pellegrini. "This is a club that is growing."