Shakhtar vs Roma: match report

The Miners faced a difficult task - to win back three goals which they conceded a week earlier from the Romans in Italy. In comparison with the first leg, Luis Castro made several changes in the starting lineup: Sergii Kryvtsov appeared at centre-back, while Mykola Matviienko moved to the left-back position, with Marcos Antonio and Manor Solomon playing instead of Marlos and Taison today.

Advantage without chances

Shakhtar started the game actively and began to put pressure on the opponents’ penalty area. However, it was the visitors who created the first scoring opportunity: Mayoral sent the ball over the crossbar from a great position. The Donetsk outfit responded with a long-range strike from Patrick, but the ball just bounced off a Roman defender and crossed the line for a corner. Throughout the first half, the hosts had a tangible territorial advantage, but it rarely led to dangerous situations. Pau Lopez coped with two more efforts by Alan Patrick, Junior Moraes’s header missed the far corner, and Solomon shot from afar a bit inaccurately. At the opposite goal, Anatolii Trubin was noted for a spectacular stopping effort: the goalkeeper rushed out to intercept the ball just in time and clinically knocked the ball off Mayoral's feet through a sliding tackle. Thus, the teams left for the break without seeing any goals.

Moraes's goal, Mayoral's double

However, the second half had barely started when the tenacious Borja Mayoral got his way. Following Karsdorp's cross and deflection off Kryvtsov, the Spaniard sent a header right into the back of Shakhtar’s goal to open the scoring. Luis Castro's men instantly raised the pace, launched an all-out attack and quickly equalised: in the 59th minute Tete delivered a high ball into the penalty area, Patrick headed it to Junior Moraes who drilled the ball into the net from close range, making it 1-1. A couple of minutes later, the substitute Konoplyanka made a powerful long-range attempt - Lopez turned it for a corner. The Miners continued pressing, but the Romans' counter-attacks were sharper and eventually led to the second goal. In the 72nd minute, Perez made it past Trubin and fed Mayoral who sent the ball into a virtually unguarded goal. But this did not make the Miners give up: first, Bruno Peres fouled on Matviienko in the penalty area, but the referee ignored that, then Pau Lopez's save rescued the visitors from Marlos’s left-corner attempt. In the end, Heorhii Sudakov excelled by firing a long-ranger (wide), however, the home side did not manage to secure at least a draw. 1-2 - Shakhtar lost to Roma on aggregate and ended their European campaign.

Now, Luis Castro's team will focus on competing in the Ukrainian league – this coming Sunday, March 21, the Miners will face an away UPL game against Lviv. It kicks off at 17:00.

Shakhtar Donetsk 1-2 (0-0) Roma

Kyiv, NSC Olimpiyskiy, behind closed doors

Goals: 0-1 Mayoral (48’), 1-1 Moraes (59’), 1-2 Mayoral (72’)

Shakhtar: Trubin, Dodo (Bolbat 82’), Kryvtsov (c), Vitao, Matviienko, Maycon, Marcos, Patrick (Konoplyanka 60’), Solomon (Sudakov 77’), Tete (Marlos 60’), Moraes (Dentinho 77’)