Porto sink Shakhtar to stay in contention
Reuters - Wednesday 23 November 2011, 22:11
Porto got two
goals late in the second half to beat Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 on
Wednesday and raise their hopes of progressing to the Champions
League knockout stage.
Hulk scored 10 minutes from time in frosty Donetsk to put
the visitors ahead before Romanian defender Razvan Rat scored an
own goal in the dying moments of the game to wrap up the victory
for the Portuguese side.
FC Porto stay third with seven points in Group G, one point
behind Zenit St Petersburg, and could advance if they beat the
Russian champions in their final game on December 6.
Shakhtar, who have not won a Champions League game this
season, hit the post in each half.
The Ukrainian side went into Wednesday's match knowing they
were already on their way out of the competition after APOEL
Nicosia and Zenit had shared the points in a goalless draw in an
early game which put the Cypriot team through.
Porto went close to scoring five minutes into the game when
Hulk beat keeper Olexandr Rybka and sent the ball towards the
net only to see it stopped by central defender Yaroslav
Rakitskiy.
Shakhtar responded in style as Brazilian striker Luiz
Adriano sped clear through the midfield to hit the far post from
the edge of the area.
Defender Olexandr Kucher narrowly missed the target with a
bicycle shot having collected a bizarre rebound following a poor
clearance.
Both sides lacked bite in attack after the restart before
Hulk finally broke the deadlock in the 80th minute soon after
Shakhtar's Fernandinho rattled the post with a curled,
long-range shot.
Joao Moutinho swept a perfect slicing pass into the path of
Hulk who collected the ball at the edge of the area, raced
forward and calmly sent it past the goalkeeper.
Shakhtar were caught cold again in the closing minutes when
the ball chipped over Rybka into the net following a deflection
off Rat while the Romanian defender was trying to block Maicon's
shot.