Aalborg 0-3 Shakhtar

February 3, 2017. Algarve. Municipal Stadium Bela Vista. Att: 200. +17^oC.

Aalborg BK (Aalborg, Denmark) 0-3 (0-2) Shakhtar (Donetsk, Ukraine) 

Goals: 0-1 Marlos (34), 0-2 Marlos (36, pen), 0-3 Boriachuk (90)

Aalborg: Larsen, Ahlmann (P. Kristensen, 68), Blaabjerg, Holgersson, Würtz (c) (M. Christensen, 68), Flores (Meilinger, 68), Sylvestr (Kakeeto, 79), Thellufsen (Ramkilde, 86), Børsting (Grønning, 79), Abildgaard (Sloth, 79), Mæhle

Unused subs: Lučić, Rokkedal, Bytyqi, Pohl

Head coach: Morten Wieghorst

Shakhtar: Shevchenko (Kanibolotskyi, 73), Srna (c) (Kobin, 73), Kucher (Ordets, 73), Rakits’kyy (Kryvtsov, 73), Ismaily (Azevedo, 46), Malyshev (Tankovskyi, 73), Fred (Kovalenko, 83), Marlos (Matviienko, 73), Dentinho (Alan Patrick, 73), Bernard (Taison, 46), Leschuk (Boriachuk, 73)

Unused subs: Pyatov, Kudryk 

Head coach: Paulo Fonseca

Referee: Ondrej Berka (Czech Republic)

Before the match
 
At the Portuguese camp, Shakhtar left-back Ismaily made his first outing. The Pitmen’s mentor Paulo Fonseca featured Gustavo Blanco Leschuk on the offensive end, with the latter poaching a hat-trick in the last friendly vs Olhanense. Having recovered from the injury, Viktor Kovalenko was listed in the ranks.

First half

Opening minutes of the match saw the action on the Danish half of the pitch. The Orange-and-Blacks confidently dominated possession of the ball making use of the flanks for offensive performance, where the teammates played in Darijo Srna and Ismaily. However, the saturated defence of the opponents, which parked the bus in front of their own goal, prevented from forging clear-cut scoring chances for some time to come. Furthermore, the first danger came after Aalborg’s rapid threatening counter. On 19 minutes, Sylvester went one on one with Shevchenko, but Mykyta was there to clear the danger and back up his teammates. Soon after that, Gustavo Blanco Leschuk could open the scoring. Srna fired a high cross at the near post to see the Argentine slipping his header a little bit wide of the mark. Nevertheless, yet another attacking move bore fruit for Shakhtar.

In the 34th minute, Fred put clear Marlos, with Shakhtar No. 11 rifling his effort home from the shooting range inside the penalty area. After a little while, he doubled the lead: after Aalborg defenders had stopped Bernard against the rules, Marlos converted a penalty-kick. The sides left for an interval with 2-0 on the scoreboard in favour of the Orange-and-Blacks.

Second half

After a break, Marcio Azevedo and Taison came on in place of Ismaily and Bernard. The course of the game had not changed compared to the first half: the Donetsk side enjoyed more possession of the ball delivering regular threatening attacking moves. On 59 minutes, the referee had all grounds for pointing once again to the penalty spot . After Gustavo Blanco Leschuk’s drive, the ball found Aalborg defender’s hand, but the referee did not blow the whistle. Immediately after that, Dentinho had the sight of a goal, but the goalkeeper denied the effort to save the team. After playing a corner, Olexandr Kucher dragged his shot wide only to see the ball finding side-netting. 17 minutes from time, Paulo Fonseca introduced eight substitutes, with Marcio Azevedo switching again to the left midfielder position. With ten minutes remaining, Fred made way for Viktor Kovalenko. 

The closing stages of the match saw the Pitmen launching regular attacking moves, with Andrii Boriachuk drawing the line under the game in a spectacular manner in the last minute from time. Shakhtar striker headed an excellent cross from Vasyl Kobin in.

The team that Shakhtar will play in the third place match in the Atlantic Cup competitions will be decided tomorrow as soon as all games in Group B are played out.

Shakhtar are expected to have their next clash on February 4. At 17:30 Kyiv time (EET), the Pitmen will meet with Gwangju, South Korea.