Shakhtar Donetsk 2-2 Borussia Dortmund - Duality in Donbass Duel

While the game was one that contained good football from two brightly dressed, comparatively inexperienced – but skilled – teams in the Champions League, the much anticipated clash was dampened by news of a plane crash involving the death of four Shakhtar fans who were travelling to the game from the western city of Odessa.

Fans of FC Shakhtar stand to pay tribute to football fans who were on board an Antonov AN-24 plane which made an emergency landing in Donetsk on February 13, 2013, killing five people.

Donetsk’s post-Willian era would begin in earnest tonight against the side from Germany. Coach Mircea Lucescu replaced the injured Oleksander Kucher with Dmytro Chygrynskiy, who was starting his first game at this level. Luiz Adriano started in a twin attack formation with Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who has been in blistering form in the domestic league with 18 goals from 17 games. Taison, the man who was brought in to replace Willian, made his competitive début.

“UEFA would like to express its deepest condolences to the family and friends of all those who lost their lives in today’s accident in Donetsk.”

Source: UEFA.com

Dortmund elected to start both Marcel Schmelzer and Lukasz Piszczek, both of whom had been passed fit. But Neven Subotic missed out, having just returned from injury, which meant Brazilian defender Felipe Santana starting alongside Mats Hummels at centre back. Sven Bender and captain Sebastian Kehl played in defensive midfield.

With both sides swapping fouls via Kehl and Alex Teixeira in the first five minutes, it was the visitors who attempted to take centre stage in Eastern Europe. Robert Lewandowski, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Marco Reus all had goalward attempts in the first ten minutes, though they all either went wide or failed to test goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov.

Shakhtar’s strikers were showing plenty of effort, but both Mkhitaryan and Adriano were flagged offside when they attempted to forge forward. Dortmund showed plenty of endeavour trying to ping cross-field balls forward to Lewandowski, with Gotze and Reus trying to set up the prolific Pole time and time again, while Shakhtar were at the receiving end of several fouls when they attacked.

It was Dortmund who came closest to breaking the deadlock in the 17th minute. English referee Howard Webb awarded Die Borussen a corner on the left. Marco Reus planted it perfectly on the head of Hummels, who was unlucky to see his effort ricochet off the crossbar with Pyatov stranded. Dortmund looked the hungrier side, but Shakhtar seemed capable of repelling whatever the Germans threw forward.

Both sides attempted to prise the other open as the first half crossed the twenty-minute mark, but while there was effort, the end product was lacking. What was endearing to see, however, was Taison’s efforts on the right flank, going toe-to-toe with Piszczek, earning his side free-kicks in the process.With their fans cheering them on, Shakhtar began to settle into the game. Good work in midfield saw Fernandinho drive forward, shaping to shoot.

But his effort was well over the bar.

The home side’s possession, however, paid immediate dividends. Santana tangled with Adriano just outside the box on the half hour mark. Darijo Srna stood over the free kick, with only one objective in mind: beat Roman Weidenfeller.

He did so exquisitely, powering his effort past the flat-footed keeper to put his side in the lead, immediately providing release for the pressure his side had been subjected to.

Shakhtar could have had a second goal almost immediately afterwards. An incoming cross from the left somehow evaded both Adriano and Teixeira, with Schmelzer shepherding the ball away just in time. Blaszczykowski mustered an effort goalwards soon afterwards, but his shot was directed straight at Pyatov.

The home side continued to defend stoutly whenever Dortmund came forward. When they did suffer lapses in concentration, the German side didn’t make them pay. In contrast, they seem a little flustered whenever they came forward, committing needless fouls and going for the wrong attacking option in the attacking third, despite neat interplay between their players.

Until the game entered the final five minutes of the first half.

Gotze teased and tantalised his way past Rat before chipping a ball to Lewandowski. Chygrynskiy met the ball, but was only able to half-clear straight to the diminutive German playmaker. He beat Razvan Rat once again before lofting it to the tall Polish international, who controlled with his first touch but missed completely, with his feet meeting air as he tried to connect with the ball.

As it fell to the ground however, he showed great composure in slotting past Pyatov with the Shakhtar players trying to evade his effort.

Dortmund may have pulled back a goal, but were guilty of some shoddy goalkeeping a minute before half time. The impressive Taison beat three defenders, Roman Weidenfeller didn’t deal with the onrushing Brazilian, and he squared for Teixeira, whose effort was blocked by Schmelzer.

With Howard Webb blowing for half-time almost immediately afterwards, both teams went into the break level, but had shown more than equal potential to win the game, attacking with great verve but suspect of poor defending when it mattered most. Shakhtar’s competitive rustiness and Dortmund’s shaky confidence were doing neither side any good.

Luiz Adriano (L) of FC Shakhtar fights for the ball with Mats Hummels (R) of Borussia Dortmund during their UEFA Champions League round 16 football match in Donetsk on February 13, 2013.

“Certainly there were a few dangerous moments in defence, but against a such an attacking minded team you can never avoid this.”

- Mats Hummels, Borussia Dortmund and Germany

The second half began the same way the first had. Dortmund came out of the traps running, culminating in a goal-bound effort by Blaszczykowski that was blocked by Chygrynskiy and then mopped up by Srna and Pyatov.

Shakhtar settled in quickly once again though: Taison fed Mkhitaryan in the 52nd minute. He timed his run to perfection and fired a first time effort towards Weidenfeller, with Santana getting in the way. Lewandowski then attempted to give his side the lead, but Pyatov was untested.

With both sides settling into a passing rhythm as the minutes ticked by, Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu made the first change of the game just after the hour mark, bringing on Douglas Costa – a tad surprisingly – for the excellent Taison, who had had a stellar début in Donestk colours.

Mario Gotze was continuing to try and cause problems for the hosts down the right. He was however nullified by the solid Srna. Hummels flashed a header across the face of goal in the 67th minute, but chances were now far and few between.

One of them was taken by Douglas Costa to fire the hosts into the lead just a minute later.

Having just come onto the pitch, Costa did brilliantly to control a long, hoicked ball by Rakitsky. Hummels failed to deal with the incoming ball, and the Brazilian controlled the ball in mid-air with his first touch before blasting past Weidenfeller to give his side a 2-1 lead.

Douglas Costa of FC Shakhtar celebrates scoring against Borussia Dortmund during their UEFA Champions League round 16 football match in Donetsk on February 13, 2013. The match ended in a 2-2 draw.

Lewandowski could have levelled the scores yet again, but he was slightly askew as he connected with Gotze’s incoming cross, failing to punish the hosts for some overconfident defending at the back.

Dortmund were now throwing men forward, Sebastian Kehl tried to force the ball into the net, but his team were nearly made to pay for committing too many personnel forward. Mkhitaryan scorched down the right and attempted to square, but his efforts came to nothing.

Shakhtar were now pressing up the pitch, frustrating their German counterparts. Blaszczykowski was the latest to concede a foul, and was taken off for Moritz Leitner before he got himself into even more trouble.

A couple of minutes later, Teixeira was taken off for Croatia striker Eduardo.

With the match becoming increasingly ill tempered, Howard Webb was forced to intervene as Sebastian Kehl squared up to Fernandinho. What the Germans needed was an outlet to release that frustration.

It came in the form of Hummels’ late equaliser three minutes from time.

Schmelzer’s corner from the right was inch-perfect, and his countryman rose highest to plant a header past the Shakhtar defence, who failed to pick him up. They had worked hard all game, and Hummels, who had been raiding forward throughout the night, earned his side a very vital second away goal with his first Champions League strike this season.

With the game evenly poised at 2-2, Dortmund prepared to see out the game. Shakhtar hurled men forward, but there was precious little time for a fifth goal in the game.

With four minutes of stoppage time played at the end of the second half, the game ended honours even with the game poised for a tantalising conclusion in Dortmund in two weeks time.

Shakhtar have shown – based on their performance here – that they have what it takes to go through to the quarter-finals, but Dortmund, more importantly, have two away goals in their favour.

All they have to do is not concede two at home.

“For my birthday, I was hoping for a great match and a good result. Both things happened.”

- Sebastian Kehl, Captain, Borussia Dortmund

Lineups:

Shakhtar Donetsk 2-2 Borussia Dortmund (Srna 31′, Douglas Costa 68′; Hummels 87′)

Referee: Howard Webb

Shakhtar Donetsk: Pyatov; Hubschmann, Rat, Chygrynskiy, Srna (c); Fernandinho, Alex Teixeira (Eduardo 84′), Yaroslav Rakitskiy; Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Luiz Adriano, Taison (62′)

Subs not used: Kanibolotsky, Shevchuk, Devic, Ischenko, Stepanenko

Manager: Mircea Lucescu

Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller; Piszczek, Santana, Hummels, Schmelzer; Kehl (c), Bender, Gotze, Reus (Scheiber 90+1′) , Blaszczykowski (Leitner 80′); Lewandowski

Subs not used: Langerak, Subotic, Halstenberg, Sahin, Bittencourt

Manager: Jurgen Klopp

Stats:

Shakhtar Donetsk: Shots (on target): 8 (3), fouls: 11, corner kicks: 4, offsides: 2, yellow cards: 1, red cards: 0, saves: 5

Borussia Dortmund: Shots (on target): 17 (6), fouls: 15, corner kicks: 7, offsides: 0, yellow cards: 0, red cards: 0, saves: 1

Possession: Shakhtar Donetsk 44% – 56% Borussia Dortmund

Next Fixture:

Shakhtar Donetsk: Club Friendly vs. FC Brasov, Donbass Arena, 17 February 2013

Borussia Dortmund: German Bundesliga vs. Eintracht Frankfurt, Signal Iduna Park, 16 February 2013