Luiz Adriano's controversial hat-trick and two goals from Willian,
including one sublime finish, helped Mircea Lucescu's side come from
behind twice to beat the Danish champions
Shakhtar Donetsk booked their place in the last 16 of the Champions League by coming from behind twice to beat Nordsjaelland.
Luiz
Adriano struck a hat-trick, while Willian added two goals for the
Ukrainian side, though the former caused controversy after his first
goal was very much against the spirit of the game.
Morten
Nordstrand and Kasper Lorentzen had given the Danish side the lead, but
the defeat sees them exit their debut Champions League campaign at the
group stage.
Shakhtar knew that a win would leave them in pole
position to qualify for the knock-out stages, and they had a golden
chance to take the lead when Henrikh Mkhitaryan blazed over the bar with
the goal gaping after Razvan Rat squared from the left.
The home side gradually grew into the match, though, and took advantage of some slack defending when Nordstrand volleyed home from close range after Joshua John curled in a cross from the left.
The
Danes were not ahead for long, but the visitors equalised in highly
controversial circumstances. Willian punted the ball towards
Nordsjaelland's goalkeeper from a drop ball, but Adriano seemed not to understand what was happening and latched onto the ball and rounded the confused Jesper Hansen to score.
Both
sides then became embroiled in an argument on the pitch, but the
Ukrainian champions failed to allow their hosts to score straight from
the restart, despite some apparent instructions from the dugout.
This didn't deter Kasper Hjulmand's team and they regained the lead just moments later as Patrick Mtiliga got forward and fed Lorentzen, who turned and fired past Andriy Pyatov into the roof of the net.
Mircea
Lucescu's side needed to get back into the game in more regular
circumstances and Mkhitaryan came close close, but he fired wide twice
in quick succession.
Shakhtar did get their equaliser on the brink of half-time as Mkhitaryan's shot was blocked by Jores Okore, only for Willian to slot home the rebound, though the final touch may have been Fernandinho's as the ball seemed to brush his back on the way in.
Mkhitaryan
was a constant thorn in Nordsjaelland's side and he again went close
early in the second half as the visitors counterattacked, but his low
shot was turned away by the legs of Hansen.
The hosts couldn't hold the Ukrainians off for long, though, and when a corner wasn't cleared properly, Willian took advantage as he curled in a stunning effort from the edge of the area.
That goal seemed to take the wind out the sails of the Danish champions, and Adriano doubled his tally for the evening as he turned in Alex Teixera's low cross.
Nordsjaelland
refused to go down without a fight and almost dragged themselves back
into it, but Lorentzen finished woefully as he tried to turn Michael
Parkhurst's cross goalwards.
The 26-year-old then had a much
easier opportunity as the home side broke forward but the forward
miscued his shot and saw it fly over the crossbar after Norstrand's
cross took the goalkeeper out of the game.
The match was then put beyond all doubt as Adriano completed his hat-trick by tapping in Douglas Costa's knockdown at the back post inside the final ten minutes.
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