Barcelona vs Shakhtar Donetsk: Barcelona on Tuesday suffered their first defeat in the Champions League when they lost away to Shakhtar Donetsk. A first half goal from Sikan secured the tie for the home team. With the win, Shakhtar moved to the third of the Champions League Group H table with six points from four matches. Barca remained on top, but FC Porto could topple them if they win by a margin of two goals in the next match.
Pusic made three alterations to his last starting line-up against Barcelona. Azarovi dropped to the bench, while Yukhym Konoplya and Artem Bondarenko missed out entirely. Rakitskyi, Gocholeishvili and Newerton were the trio to come in and start.
Xavi opted for four changes from Barcelona’s last European outing. The fit-again Lewandowski started up top, replacing Joao Felix, while Raphinha was preferred to Yamal. Christensen got the nod ahead of centre-back Martinez, with Gavi also in for Lopez. Pedri, who came off the bench in the 1-0 win over Real Sociedad at the weekend, was fit enough to make the substitutes list again.
Barcelona was shaky from the start and Shakhtar took full advantage of the sloppiness of Xavi’s men. Shakhtar were winless in their last seven home games in the Champions League, losing each of the last two. However, they played with real confidence and took the lead in the 40th-minute mark.
Sudakov played an exquisite pass out to the right-hand side, where Gocholeishvili had acres of space to curl a right-footed cross towards the penalty spot. Sikan looked to have got in the wrong position but stooped backwards to head back towards the top-right corner. Ter Stegen had no chance and Pusic’s side went to the tunnel with 1-0 lead.
Barca tried hard to make a comeback in the second half, but Shakhtar were organised in their defence and cleared their lines before Lewandowski and others could pose a danger. They had quite a few breaks of their own and made Ter Stegen work hard between the sticks.
Barcelona vs Shakhtar Donetsk First XI
Barcelona XI: Marc-Andre ter Stegen; Joao Cancelo, Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen, Marcos Alonso; Ilkay Gundogan, Oriel Romeu, Gavi; Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski, Ferran Torres.
Shakhtar Donetsk XI: Dmytro Riznyk; Mykola Matvienko, Yaroslav Rakitskyi, Valeriy Bondar, Giorgi Gocholeishvili; Taras Stepanenko; Newerton, Heorhii Sudakov, Dmytro Kryskiv, Oleksandr Zubkov; Danylo Sikan.
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