Sporting Lisbon boosted their qualification hopes with a 1-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk.
Liedson strike clinches 1-0 victory
Sporting Lisbon boosted their qualification hopes with a 1-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk.
The Ukrainian team enjoyed most of the possession in a lacklustre encounter but could not carve out many opportunities and Sporting struck late through Liedson to clinch all three points.
Both sides went into the game having beaten Basle but lost to Barcelona, and the suggestion before kick-off was that Shakhtar and Sporting were in direct competition for second place in Group C.
There was a sense of apprehension in the early stages as Shakhtar struggled to find any fluency in their passing and Sporting appeared more interested in defence than attack.
Rodrigues Jadson was one of the few players to stand out and the Shakhtar midfielder tested goalkeeper Rui Patricio with a curling free-kick from 20 yards.
Marcelo Moreno was presented with the best opportunity of the first half after a good spell of possession from the home side but his shot was wayward.
Sporting offered little going forward and playmaker Joao Moutinho was unable to exert any influence on the game as Shakhtar won the physical battle in the centre of the field.
Cohesion
Highly-rated youngster Miguel Veloso was operating in the unfamiliar position of left-back and the Portuguese side seemed to lack cohesion when they were in possession.
Shakhtar stepped up the tempo at the start of the second half but lacked composure in the final third and too often went for ambitious efforts from distance.
Evaeyerson Brandau had one such attempt which flew high into the stands from all of 35 yards, before Moreno headed wide from Razvan Rat's cross.
Sporting had an opportunity to break the deadlock against the run of play when Moutinho finally showed a glimpse of his quality to escape from his marker and deliver a pinpoint cross, but Liedson's glancing header went wide.
Jadson forced an acrobatic save out of Patricio at the other end with a deflected shot from 30 yards, and Shakhtar were made to rue their missed chances when Sporting scored on 76 minutes.
There appeared to be little danger in a goalmouth scramble until Derlei's audacious backheel found Liedson and the Brazilian squeezed the ball past Andrei Pyatov.
The result leaves Shakhtar three points behind their rivals and they must now look to bounce back in Portugal next month.
| Shakhtar Donetsk |
Team Statistics |
Sporting Lisbon |
| 0 |
Goals |
1 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 6 |
Shots on Target |
2 |
| 8 |
Shots off Target |
3 |
| 3 |
Blocked Shots |
1 |
| 3 |
Corners |
1 |
| 14 |
Fouls |
26 |
| 4 |
Offsides |
0 |
| 1 |
Yellow Cards |
1 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 69.9 |
Passing Success |
63.6 |
| 24 |
Tackles |
21 |
| 66.7 |
Tackles Success |
71.4 |
| 58.3 |
Possession |
41.7 |
| 51.2 |
Territorial Advantage |
48.8 |
|
