published: wednesday 27 november 2013, 23.10cet fc shakhtar donetsk 4-0 real sociedad de fútbol
the hosts control their own fate in group a after moving second with a dominant victory against the basque visitors.
fc shakhtar donetsk kept their group a qualification hopes very much alive with a dominant win which ends real sociedad de fútbol's european season.
ın a dizzying encounter luiz adriano, alex teixeira and douglas costa, on two occasions, demonstrated unerring finishing to punish a la real side who battled valiantly throughout but could not do enough to maintain their stay in the competition past matchday six. courtesy of manchester united fc's win at bayer 04 leverkusen the ukrainian champions sit a point above the german challengers, but face a tough final-day trip to old trafford with nothing guaranteed.
for the visitors only maximum points in the donbass arena would keep alive their slim round of 16 chances, and they showed their intent early by dictating possession. however, shakhtar goalkeeper andriy pyatov had little to worry about as fine passing combinations in midfield failed to result in sociedad chances.
the hosts soon roused themselves and slick interplay down the right after ten minutes allowed teixeira to strike fiercely at claudio bravo who turned behind with his legs. seven minutes later bernard was given a free run into the box from the left but dragged an effort wide. pressure continued to build on the basque goal and on 37 minutes the breakthrough arrived after darijo srna's swerving effort was tipped over. the resulting corner was played short to douglas costa who shrewdly crossed to the near post where onrushing adriano beat keeper bravo to the ball with his toe and diverted in via the post.
the spanish side responded gamely and almost got level moments before the half-time whistle only for ıñigo martínez to drill just over the bar from inside the area. rather than opt for the conservative option after the restart, shakhtar flooded forward in search of a second, a policy which paid dividends almost immediately. on 48 minutes teixeira capitalised on an error from martínez, stole into the box and smashed the bouncing ball perfectly into far corner with his left boot.
antoine griezmann's volley was somehow turned behind by the lightning reactions of pyatov as la real endeavoured to get back into it, but a barnstorming counterattack was finished off by costa's remarkable first-time effort from far on the left to drain the hope from jagoba arrasate's side once and for all. ıt was costa, with three minutes remaining, who put the icing on the cake for the home side who will be confident of doing what they must on the final day to once again make the knockout phase.
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