He Shakhtar Donetsk He keeps his European dream very much alive and took the first step towards the Europa League round of 16 after beating 2-1 this Thursday against Rennes French, in a match in which the Ukrainians punished with defeat the defensive errors of the French team in the first half.
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Sin Mudrik
Without playing an official match since last November and, above all, without the presence of his great star, the young attacker Mykhaylo Mudryktransferred last January for 70 million euros to the Chelsea English, there were numerous doubts about the performance of the Ukrainian team.
But those of the Croatian Igor Jovicevic It barely took them 11 minutes to show that they are still the competitive team, which fought until the last day of the group stage with the Leipzig German for the ticket to the round of 16 of the Champions League.
Even without the presence of Mudryk he Shakhtar Donetsk made it clear that with meters ahead they are still the stinging team that became one of the pleasant surprises of the group stage of the highest continental competition.
A facility for the counterattack that was benefited by the defensive errors of the Renneslike the one that led to the first local goal, a long crossed ball that the English right-back Grandpa Spence it failed to cut.
Kryskiv signed the 1-0
circumstance that allowed Bogdan Mykhaylichenko stand in the area and put the French goalkeeper to the test Steve Mandandawho despite avoiding the goal in the first instance, could not prevent Dmytro Kryskiv take advantage of the rejection to sign after eleven minutes the 1-0.
If he Shakhtar did not forgive the mistakes of Rennesthe same could not be said of the Breton team, which at minute 32 missed an unbeatable opportunity to return the tables to the scoreboard, after an unsuccessful assignment of Artem Bondarenko who left the Cameroonian completely alone before the goalkeeper Karl Toko Ekambiwho did not know how to finish the play in goal.
Penalty for Ugochukwu
A failure that did not take long to pay the Renneswho saw a new indecision of Spence led to a dangerous attack on the left wing of Cross discwho gave the ball inside the area where Yukhym Konolplia was brought down by the midfielder Chimuanya Ugochukwu when I was going to finish.
Of course penalty that Artem Bondarenko was commissioned, even though Mandanda He came to touch the ball, to convert in the 2-0, which put the match and the tie in the face of the Ukrainian team.
A dark outlook for Rennesranked sixth in the French League, which seemed to clear up for those from Bruno Genesio with the goal of Ekambi storewho made it 2-1 after 59 minutes by finishing off a cross from the left of the Belgian at the far post Jeremy Doku.
But if everything seemed favorable for the French equalizer, it was the Shakhtar Donetsk who was closest to scoring again through Oleksandr Zubkov and of Taras Stepanenkowho saw a free header go over the crossbar after 63 minutes from a corner.
A fact that did not prevent the victory of the Ukrainian team, which showed that they also know how to win without the presence of their until recently great star, the attacker Mykhaylo Mudryk.