Thursday, February 17, 2011

Shakhtar stun Roma in Champions League




A trio of Brazilians gave Shakhtar Donetsk a shock 3-2 victory at Roma on Wednesday to put the Ukrainians in firm control of their Champions League second round clash.
Jadson, Douglas Costa and Luiz Adriano all found in the net in the space of 12 first half minutes to turn the tie on its head following Simone Perrotta's opener.
Jeremy Menez's second half strike ensured Roma retained a slight hope of triumphing following the second leg in Donetsk in three weeks time.
There were ominous signs for Roma on 12 minutes when goalkeeper Doni made a meal of Darijo Srna's free-kick, letting it slip through his hands before being relieved to see it drop on the roof of the net.
Roma should have gone in front on 21 minutes but Nicolas Burdisso amazingly put his header wide from five yards as he arrived at pace to meet Francesco Totti's corner.
Mirko Vucinic then curled a speculative effort just over the bar.
Roma went in front with a scrappy goal on 28 minutes as Rodrigo Taddei crossed for Perrotta to head goalwards, the ball hitting Razvan Rat in the chest and the defender failing to react as the ball then bounced over the line.
Just a minute later it was all square, though, as Jadson's shot deflected off Daniele De Rossi and wrong-footed Doni.
Dmytro Chygrynskiy then headed back across goal but Luiz Adriano couldn't turn it home.
The turnaround was complete on 36 minutes as Douglas Costa drove at a hesitating Roma defence, cut inside onto his left foot and curled a delicious strike around Doni.
Up the other end Vucinic tried to do something similar but sent his effort beyond the far post.
On 41 minutes disaster struck for Roma as John-Arne Riise lost his balance and fell over, allowing Douglas Costa to steal the ball and set up Luiz Adriano to shoot home under Doni.
Menez curled an effort wide for Roma but it could have been even worse for the hosts before the break as Douglas Costa released Luiz Adriano again and he shrugged off Philippe Mexes's shirt pull but then did not get enough weight behind his chip over Doni and Nicolas Burdisso got back to clear.
Roma took 15 minutes of the second period to finally threaten the Shakhtar goal but Menez couldn't keep his knee over the ball and volleyed high.
But just a minute later he made ammends, curling an unstoppable shot into the top corner from 20 yards.
Armenian Henrik Mkhitaryan then kept Doni busy with a skimming shot from distance.
Doni had to charge from his area to deny Luiz Adriano on the edge of his box while Mkhitaryan squuezed a finish just past the post.
Paolo Castellini forced Andriy Pyatov to tip over the bar before Totti shot straight at the keeper when well placed.
Substitute Marco Borriello directed a late header wide but Roma could not rescue a draw.

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