Analysis: Shakhtar Donetsk

Shakhtar Donetsk maintained their 4-2-3-1 formation for the visit of Manchester City, but head coach Paulo Fonseca opted to make five changes to his side. Mykola Matviyenko and Yaroslav Rakitskiy came into the back line, while Taras Stepanenko was introduced in defensive midfield. The two final changes saw Viktor Kovalenko and Fernando Pedro come into the attack.

Shakhtar saw very little of the ball against a dominant away side in the opening exchanges. In their first moment of possession, both central defenders expanded, allowing the double pivot of Stepanenko and Maycon to drop deeper in the central lane. This in turn enabled both full-backs to push higher, moving in line with Kovalenko in the central number 10 position. Despite this bold and expansive opening piece of play, their opponents’ high line and intense pressing ensured possession remained limited.

The hosts’ ventures into the final third only came from mistakes made by City throughout the first half. Shakhtar’s best chance to regain possession came via passes back into the central lane from the wide areas, as their mid-block lacked any form of intensity with regards to consistent pressure on the ball. With Fernandinho dropping deeper as the game progressed, they were afforded more central space to drive forward after a regain, but their quality when attacking one-on-one was of a low standard.

They continued to expand when goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov possessed the ball, but despite initially distributing to a man in space, City’s ability to regain possession by winning individual duels created additional chances for the visitors. While desperate long balls forward were then often won by Junior Moraes at the first contact, the lone striker lacked supporting runners to gain control of the second ball.

After conceding in the 30th minute, Shakhtar eventually had a promising spell of possession in which the full-backs moved very high – well ahead of their defensive midfield pairing. Wingers Wellington Nem and Fernando also moved higher, forming an extremely narrow front three with Moraes. Now, they could receive through-balls in behind the visitors’ defence with runs made blindside of their full-back markers. This approach resulted in a few corners being won, but they were still struggling to threaten and soon went two goals down following poor marking from a corner conceded themselves.

Shakhtar’s play in the second half was much more promising. As City set up in a more reserved mid-block around the halfway line, the midfield could get on the ball more. With John Stones in an unnatural right-back role, the hosts naturally targeted this side to attack. Fernando continued with his inside movements, allowing left-back Ismaily to step forward, with and without the ball. Fernando’s runs inside were performed slightly later compared to the first half now that the front three had become less compact as their possession increased.

Long balls in behind for both full-backs to run on to proved a direct and effective method to penetrate into the final third. The hosts made use of Kovalenko’s positioning in between the lines to effectively switch the play to the opposite full-back or to combine centrally with Wellington and Fernando. But despite finding an inroad into their opponents’ half, Ederson stood firm to any effort on goal.

Shakhtar converted into a 4-4-2 structure when defending, with Kovalenko moving from his number 10 role into a second supporting striker. They then formed a compact mid-block, focused on reducing the central space between their midfield and defensive units. This, however, naturally afforded City spaces in the wide areas, and the visitors progressed well down the right side.

Kevin De Bruyne capitalised on this most, increasingly moving across to Shakhtar’s left side. As a result, the hosts’ back-line gradually shifted across to cover the threat. This sliding across from right to left wasn’t always well co-ordinated though, and central gaps started to appear. David Silva and Raheem Sterling eventually started to exploit these gaps through forward running, and City’s lead at half-time was deserved.

Shakhtar’s 4-4-2 structure was reasonably organised throughout the match and they worked hard to protect various key spaces. But they were let down by a lack of skill under pressure and an inability to beat their man one-on-one. Once the visitors grabbed a third goal following a rapid counter-attack from deep, the game was well and truly over.