On Thursday, April 16, Shakhtar Donetsk, which defeated the Dutch club in the first meeting (3:0), held the second leg of the Conference League quarterfinal against local AZ at the AFAS Arena in Alkmaar and reached the semifinals of the European Cup for the first time since 2020.
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Conference League. Quarter-finals. Second leg
AZ (Netherlands) — Shakhtar (Ukraine) — 2:2
Shakhtar: Riznik, Vinicius, Matvienko, Bondar, Pedro Enrique, Ocheretko (Bondarenko, 89), Nazarina, Alisson (Marlon Gomez, 61), Neverton (Ferreira, 70), Izaki (Eguinaldo, 61), Elias (Eguinaldo, 61)
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Goals : Jensen (73), Shin (80) — Alisson (58), Meireles (84).
Despite the crushing victory in the first match, Shakhtar fans feared that the “orange-blacks”, who would have to travel 5,000 km across Europe in 10 days, would be like themselves in Alkmaar in the return match against Lech. Then the Poles managed to beat the Donetsk team by two goals and only a wild own goal prevented them from putting pressure on Shakhtar.
Fortunately, Arda Turan's team in Alkmaar was helped by the AZ coaching staff, who fielded a reserve team for the game against the Ukrainian team. And for good reason – in three days, Shakhtar's rivals will play the Dutch Cup final against NEK. So they bet on the match for the trophy
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For a long time, Donetsk had no special problems with the AZ reserves and even took the lead. But the douchebag mood in the ranks of the “orange-black” almost led to defeat. The bell is far from the first in the European Cup season. No matter how the Brazilian virtuosos of the ball, such an attitude towards the game and the opponent did not get out of hand.
The Miners have made it to the semi-finals of the European Cup for the first time in six years (in 2020, Shakhtar was defeated by the Italian Inter in the semi-finals of the Europa League — 5:0). Arda Turan's team will challenge for a place in the final of the Conference League on April 30 in Krakow and May 7 in London in matches against the English Crystal Palace, which knocked out the Italian Fiorentina from the tournament — 3:0 at home and 1:2 away.
The other semi-final pair was formed by the French Strasbourg (0:2 and 4:0 with the German Mainz) and the Spanish Rayo Vallecano (3:0 and 1:3 with the Greek AEK).
Previously, “FACTS” reported that Shakhtar drew with LNZ in the UPL leaders' match.
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Photo of FC Shakhtar