Roman Celentano saved three shots and helped FC Cincinnati secure a place in the playoffs with a 0-0 draw against the Columbus Crew on Saturday.

Cincinnati (16-8-4, 52 points) maintained its two-point lead over the third-place crew in the Eastern Conference.

Patrick Schulte saved twice for the Crew (14-5-8, 50).

Celentano, who was celebrating his 24th birthday, made a brilliant save to deny a deflected ball from Jacen Russell-Rowe in the 86th minute.

The Crew traveled to Cincinnati for the first time since an epic 2023 Eastern Conference final on Dec. 2, when Columbus overcame a two-goal deficit in the 75th minute to win 3-2 in overtime, surprising the Supporters’ Shield winners. A week later, the Crew won their third MLS Cup.

Cincinnati redeemed itself with a 2-1 victory on May 11, breaking the team’s 27-game winning streak in all competitions by celebrating its first victory in Ohio’s capital.

In the return match, Cincinnati had the edge in the first half (54 percent), but the visitors had two great chances to break through.

The first goal came in the 14th minute when Cucho Hernandez pushed the ball through the goal area to Diego Rossi. The cross was a bit too long and Rossi shot not into the empty goal but past the left post.

Four minutes later, Hernandez played a through ball to Christian Ramirez, but Celentano left his goal and deflected the shot with his left hand.

Schulte made a skilled save against Luca Orellano in the 34th minute before the Crew prevented a goal in the last seconds of the half. Lucho Acosta got behind the defense and beat Schulte, but he was offside.

Neither team created a scoring opportunity in the second half until 15 minutes before the end of normal time, when a corner for Crew led to a header from Sean Zawadzki, which Celentano easily saved.

–Field level media