shakhtar secure comfortable passage published: tuesday 25 august 2009, 19.52cet
the uefa cup holders strode into the group stage with a comprehensive aggregate win over their turkish visitors.
by pavel gognidze from donetsk
uefa cup holders fc shakhtar donetsk became the first side to clinch a place in uefa europa league group stage after recording a 2-0 win over sivasspor to sit alongside their win last week in turkey.
pair of penalties the victory, thanks to a penalty in each half from jadson and luiz adriano, gives shakhtar a 5-0 aggregate success following their comprehensive win in sivas on thursday, putting the pitmen in good stead ahead of their uefa super cup meeting with fc barcelona on friday. it was also shakhtar's final match at the rsc olympiyskiy stadium before their new 50,000-capacity donbass arena opens this weekend.
opener shakhtar, with usual starters fernandinho, dmytro chygrynskiy, luiz adriano and andriy pyatov on the bench, began confidently. julius aghahowa had a goal disallowed for offside, but darijo srna won a penalty in the 21st minute after being fouled by murat sözgelmez. jadson applied a cool finish and further chances followed with olexiy polyanskiy and willian unloading from distance and ilsinho attempting a back-heeled finish.
brazilian contingent the hosts were dominating and the pattern did not change after the break, as visiting goalkeeper akın vardar was forced to deny willian from point-blank range. sivasspor were struggling to contain shakhtar's lively brazilian attack with luiz adriano now on and jadson going close. it was their captain, though, who again earned the chance to extend the lead. srna darted into the box and was upended by pieter mbemba with luiz adriano stepping up to score just before the hour mark. sivasspor had a couple of late chances, but shakhtar were fully in control and saw out the rest of the tie comfortably.
