The meeting ended with a victory for the hosts with a score of 1:0. The only goal of the match was scored by Daniil Sikan in the 40th minute of the match.
The match took place on a neutral ground in Hamburg. The home team immediately gave the ball back and went on the defensive. The match was not the fastest, which pleased both teams. But this affected the number of dangerous moments. In their own half, the Donetsk team felt more confident.
In the 15th minute, the hosts created a chance. Rakitsky made a long pass, Catalan defender Cancelo missed Matvienko behind him, but the defender shot at Ter Stegen. Immediately afterwards, Barcelona responded with a shot from outside the penalty area. Raphinha’s shot goes over the crossbar.
Five minutes before the end of the first half, the hosts managed to score. Gocholeishvili passes from the right flank towards Sikan. The attacker made a header. This time, the Catalan goalkeeper could not save.
In the second half, Barcelona increased their speed, but failed to overcome the defense of Marino Pusic’s men. The hosts, on the contrary, managed to attack. First Gocholeishvili, then Sikan struck from the goalkeeper’s corner, but Ter Stegen coped. After an hour of play, Xavi made a quadruple substitution. After the exit of Balde, Pedri, Felix and Yamalu, the pressure from the guests increased.
But that didn’t help create scoring chances. And those that were able to be created were not the most dangerous. And in the 87th minute, Shakhtar scored the second goal. This time, Cancelo missed Neverton. The Brazilian beat the defender and shot. The goal was disallowed for offside. Barcelona continued to attack until the final whistle, but they couldn’t even get a draw.
“You have to believe in it and act to achieve such a result. We analyzed our first match and the opponent’s matches after that. The players played phenomenally. They could have scored even more. They played without problems. We are very happy with this result. I am proud of the whole team,” said Pusic about your team’s victory.
“We showed a low level of play – we lost the ball, possession problems, attacking problems. It’s one of the worst games I remember in these years. We are going through a difficult period, we have to admit it. It’s a shame.
It all depends on us, in the next match we will meet Porto. There you can reach the playoffs. Recently we have been playing well. It’s a mental problem,” Xavi commented about losing the match.
Barcelona lost points for the first time in the Champions League this season. Xavi’s team missed out on early access to the tournament’s playoffs. Shakhtar, after winning, scored 6 points, but to qualify for the playoffs, they will need to win the next matches.
Yahya Hasanov, Athletistic
Source: Sport
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
