Shakhtar 2-1 Debreceni

February 7, 2017. Faro. Algarve Stadium. Att: 300. +13^oC

Shakhtar (Donetsk, Ukraine) 2-1 (2-1) Debreceni (Debrecen, Hungary)

Goals: 1-0 Leschuk (27), 2-0 Dentinho (29), 2-1 Felscher (37)

Shakhtar: Pyatov, Srna (c) (Kobin, 68), Kucher (Ordets, 68), Rakits’kyy, Ismaily (Azevedo, 82), Malyshev (Stepanenko, 82), Fred, Marlos, Dentinho (Kovalenko, 68) Taison (Bernard, 68), Leschuk (Boriachuk, 82)

Unused subs: Kudryk, Matviienko, Kryvtsov, Alan Patrick, Tankovskyi, Zubkov

Head coach: Paulo Fonseca

Debreceni: Danilovic (Kelava, 80), Filip, Tozser (c), Holman (Biro, 84), Meszaros (Osvath, 70), Sekulic, Brkovic, Handzic (Kenves, 80), Felscher (Korodi, 70) Jovanovic (Szilvasi, 70), Barna (Ferenczi, 46)

Unused subs: Verpecz, Szatmari, Chuka Ogbu, Takacs, Varga, Zoltan Nagy, Kevin Nagy

Head coach: Leonel Pontes

Booked: Brkovic (52)

Referee: Carlos Cabral (Portugal)

Before the match

In the encounter with the Hungarian Debreceni, Paulo Fonseca almost repeated the line-up fielded in the previous Atlantic Cup win (3-0) vs Aalborg, Denmark. The changes affected only the goalkeeper role and the left midfield. Andriy Pyatov and Taison appeared instead of Mykyta Shevchenko and Bernard.

First half

The Pitmen seized the initiative from the off. Gustavo Blanco Leschuk could have scored early. On 9 minutes, Yaroslav Rakitskyy put the Argentine striker through on goal only to see Danilovic come to the team’s rescue. Pressure on the Debreceni goal was increasing. Darijo Srna and Ismaily delivered dangerous crosses into the opposing box, with Leschuk failing to score on 22 minutes and succeeding on 27 minutes. Fred chipped it to the far post, with the keeper parrying away a Taison header, however Donetsk’s number 99 found himself to be the first on the ball to flick it home – 1-0. Just shortly afterwards, Dentinho extended the lead. On 29 minutes, the Pitmen’s perfect move ended with Taison’s delivery into the penalty area, and Dentinho chesting it down and hammering a spectacular volley just home to make it 2-0.

Soon, one of the Hungarians’ few counter-attacks led to a goal: on 37 minutes, Felscher found the back of the net after heading home a long cross from the left wing. In the remaining time, the events developed only on one half of the field, with Shakhtar failing to score though.

Second half

At half-time, the Pitmen’s mentor made no substitutions. Early in the second half, Fred twice acted as an attacking spearhead. Initially, the number 8 made an attempt from outside the penalty area following a pass from Darijo Srna, with the opposing goalie hardly saving his long-ranger a little later. On 68 minutes, Paulo Fonseca made four replacements, with Vasyl Kobin, Ivan Ordets, Viktor Kovalenko and Bernard appearing. They managed to significantly revive the play. Kobin regularly put threat on the right wing and fired dangerous crosses into the penalty area. On 82 minutes, Marcio Azevedo, Taras Stepanenko and Andrii Boriachuk appeared on the pitch. The closing stages of the meeting saw the Pitmen attacking, but the scoreline remained the same.

Thus, Shakhtar claimed a narrow 2-1 win at Debreceni in the Atlantic Cup third-spot decider.