Shakhtar Donetsk celebrates valuable victory, beats Barcelona 1-0

The second match between Shakhtar Donetsk and Barcelona in Group H of this year’s Champions League took place in Hamburg on Tuesday. Two weeks ago, the Catalans won a narrow 2-1 victory. This time they did not give a very convincing performance either and eventually lost. Danylo Sikan scored the only goal of the game.

The Ukrainian team, playing as the home team in the German asylum, started quite actively, but the first shot was scored by the visitors. Gündoğan’s attempt at the end of the opening ten minutes was inaccurate.

Five minutes later, the other side had a better chance. Matviyenko shot from a dangerous position in the penalty area, but only hit goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen from close range. Moments later, Raphinh’s shot flew over Dmytro Riznyk’s goal.

There weren’t many interesting situations during a quiet first half, yet the score changed before the break. In the 40th minute Sudakov sent a precise pass to the right to Gocholeshvili, who centred into the penalty area and Danylo Sikan scored with a header to make it 1:0.

Two minutes after the break, Torres tried to equalise, but his shot went high over the crossbar. Soon after, Gocheleishvili forced an intervention from an angle from the Barcelona goalkeeper. Then in the 51st minute, Raphinha missed the target with his cross. Ter Stegen then intervened against Sikan’s finish.

Barcelona continued to be unable to apply more pressure, so coach Xavi responded by making four substitutions after an hour of play. Romeu, Torres, Raphinha, and Alonso left the field, while Pedri, Félix, Yamal, and Balde came off the bench.

The reshuffled Blaugranas attack immediately created an interesting snarl in the big whitewash, but Riznyk solved everything. Coach Marin Pusic’s charges did not stop promising offensive forays, with Newerton firing into the side netting in the 67th minute.

However, as the end of the match approached, Shakhtar mainly defended, although they did not face the overwhelming onslaught of the Catalan big club. Its players struggled up front, with cannonballer Lewandowski, for example, virtually unable to threaten the Donetsk goal.

87. one minute brought another home goal, but it didn’t last long. Newerton’s goal was disallowed due to a close offside. But it didn’t change the result, because Barça didn’t manage to equalise even during the eight-minute setup.

The reigning Spanish champions thus lost points for the first time in this Champions League season, and all three of them. Shakhtar Donetsk followed up their win in Antwerp in October and have a six-point lead after four rounds.

In a simultaneous match, Borussia Dortmund and Newcastle United face off in Group F from 18:45. The German team is coming off a four-goal league debacle in Der Klassiker. This time they won 2:0, with goals from Füllkrug and Brandt.

Source: UEFA, Nova Sport 4