The Donetsk team has created an important groundwork for reaching the 1/8 finals of the Europa League.
On Thursday, February 16, the European Cup tournament, the Europa League, returned. As part of the 1/16 finals of the Europa League, Shakhtar hosted Rennes.
The start of the match was quite expected – the teams looked closely at each other, playing especially without scoring chances.
The first blunder led to a goal. Mikhailichenko took advantage of the fact that he was missed on the flank, entered the penalty area and struck accurately, but Mandanda parried the blow. On finishing the first was Kryskiv, who plunged the ball into the goal.
The French team immediately began looking for keys to remedy the situation. Doku, Ekambi, Guiri created chances thanks to their activity, but all their efforts did not lead to anything.
Rennes got the moment when Bondarenko made a gross mistake. The midfielder of Shakhtar unsuccessfully threw on Trubin, and the ball was intercepted by Ekambi. The forward shot right on goal, but Trubin miraculously parried the blow.
Before the final whistle, there was an episode that allowed Shakhtar to score the second goal. Hemp responded to Kryskiv’s cross, but failed to break through, because Ugochukvu shot him down. Bondarenko approached the ball and scored, although Mandanda was close to taking the shot.
The start of the second half turned out to be very dynamic on the part of Shakhtar, namely Oleksandr Zubkov. First, the Ukrainian almost held the offside line, and then shot from a long distance, but a little inaccurately.
A quick and aggressive start did not bring any result to Shakhtar, while Rennes, on the contrary, continued to put pressure and focus on serves. One of these led to a goal by Ekambi, who closed a sharp cross to Doku.
After the French team’s goal, the pace of the game slowed down a bit. Rennes calmed down, and began to go on the attack less often. Shakhtar took advantage of this by creating a couple of chances where Zubkov was the most active, but failed to convert them.
The end of the match was quite monotonous – Shakhtar held the ball, and Rennes unsuccessfully created chances. On the eve of the final whistle, Shikan got his moment, who beat Mandanda, but shot at the goal, where Omari was.
The final segment of the meeting was pretty calm, apart from a couple of clashes and skirmishes between the players. Shakhtar got an important victory before the return game.
Note that the second leg of the teams will be held on February 23 in France.
Match statistics Shakhtar – Rennes 1/16 finals of the Europa League
Miner – Rennes 2:1
Goals: Kryskiv, 11, Bondarenko, 45 (pen.) – Ekambi, 59
Ball possession: 49% – 51%
Shots on goal: 14-18
shots on target: 3-6
Offside: 3-1
Corners: 2-9
XG: 1.96 – 1.44
Miner: Trubin – Hemp, Bondar, Matvienko, Mikhailichenko – Stepanenko, Bondarenko – Zubkov, Kryskiv (Petryak, 77), Sudakov – Traore (Sikan, 77)
Rennes: Mandanda – Spence, Amari, Belosyan, Truffer – Doku (Salah, 71), Burijo, Ugochukvu (Mayer, 77), Ekambi (Santamaria, 77) – Guiri (Due, 71), Kolimuendo (Meling, 86)
Warnings: Stepanenko, Mikhailichenko, Zubkov – Burizho, Ugochukvu, Omari
