On Thursday, March 12, the leader of the Ukrainian championship, Shakhtar Donetsk, who took 6th place in the main round of the tournament, held the first match of the 1/8 finals of the Conference League in Poznan, Poland, against the local Lech, which was defeated in the play-offs by the Finnish KuPS – 2:0 and 1:0.
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Conference League. Round of 16. First match
Lech (Poland) — Shakhtar (Ukraine) — 1:3
Shakhtar: Riznik, Pedro Enrique, Marlon Santos, Bondar, Vinicius, Kryskiv (Marlon Gomez, 27 Nazarina, 76), Ocheretko, Neverton (Ferreira, 76), Pedrino (Prosper, 89), Alisson (Isake, 76), Elias.
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Goals: Ishak (70) — Marlon Gomez (36), Neverton (48), Isaké (85).
Arda Turan's men, who were preparing for the match in Turkey, practically deprived the Poles of the ball from the first minutes and looked for their chances in attack. They found it in the 36th minute, when Elias found Marlon Gomez with a spectacular backheel pass, who replaced the injured Kryskiv, and he did not miss – 0:1. In total, Shakhtar had 64% of the ball before the break, not allowing Dane Nils Frederiksen's men to make at least one shot on Riznik's goal.
Less than five minutes into the second half, Neverton doubled the Miners' lead with a close-range shot — 0:2.
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However, as soon as Donetsk players eased the pressure a little near the opponent's goal, the most productive team in the Polish championship came to life and stung painfully. The ball was put into the Riznyk's net by Lech's top scorer, Swede Ishak – 1:2 (the first goal conceded by Shakhtar since December 1 last year, when there was a draw with Kryvbas – 2:2).
The Poles were not allowed to build on their success. And closer to the final whistle, another Donetsk Brazilian, Isaké, scored a masterpiece goal, brilliantly scoring over himself – 1:3.
The second leg of the match between the rivals will take place on Thursday, March 19, at the Henryk Rejman Stadium in Krakow.
Other first matches of the 1/8 finals of the Conference League brought the following results:
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AZ (Netherlands) — Sparta (Czech Republic) — 2:1;
Samsunspor (Turkey) – Rayo Vallecano (Spain) – 1:3;
Rijeka (Croatia) – Strasbourg (France) – 1:2;
Crystal Palace (England) — AEK (Cyprus) — 0:0;
Fiorentina (Italy) — Rakuw (Poland) — 2:1;
Celje (Slovenia) — AEK (Greece) — 0:4;
Sigma (Czech Republic) – Mainz (Germany) – 0:0.
Previously, “FACTS” reported that Shakhtar learned about potential opponents in the Conference League playoffs.
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