Shakthar 2 - 0 Solaris (379012735)

2619 spectators arrived at Universal Sports Hall, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Andrey Molochkov was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Hemmo Füglistahler and Alberto Di Silvestro. Shakthar started off with a 5-4-1 lineup. They fielded: Escalera - 泉中 (Quanzhong), Soltanieh, Carner, Jančárek, Przesmycki - Caro, Koval, Febrero, Domingo - de Son.

Solaris tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Lineup: Teixeira Araújo - Grzyb, Deyres, Hallahuhta - Renčo, Øverby, Di Franco, Sargans, Rieger - Svensson, Kolankiewicz.

The wings were the focus of most of Solaris's attacks today. 8 minutes into the game, B. Soltanieh had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came A. Quisquo. After a fine move down the middle V. Koval nearly gave the home side a goal after 15 minutes. However the finishing shot went just wide. Solaris's F. Sargans was shown a yellow card after 18 minutes for slicing down an opponent. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 0. Shakthar claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 75 percent.

They were singing the praises of B. de Son 61 minutes into the match after his speculative chip from the middle of the penalty box found its way over the visitors' keeper to make the score 1 - 0 to Shakthar. B. de Son increased the lead for Shakthar to 2 - 0, getting a head onto a hooked ball from the right. The ball looked to have taken a deflection on the way in, but he's claiming it! After 76 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by S. Jančárek might have resulted in another goal for Shakthar. However, R. Teixeira Araújo made a spectacular save. Shakthar enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 76 percent of possession.

Shakthar's top performer was clearly N. Febrero. On the other hand, G. Escalera's play was disheartening. S. Renčo performed admirably for Solaris. M. Svensson turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 0.