Beat Shakhtar 2-0 Become Sheriff Tiraspol's Sweet Debut In The Champions League

JAKARTA - Sheriff Tiraspol marked their debut in the Champions League group stage with a convincing 2-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk at the Boshaya Sportivnaya Arena Stadium, Moldova, Wednesday local time.

The Sheriff's two winning goals were scored by Adama Traore and Momo Yansane which Shakhtar failed to reply at all, even though the Ukrainian side dominated no less than 74 percent possession throughout the match.

Launching Antara, Sheriff is entrenched at the top of the Group D standings with three points, while waiting for the results of the Inter Milan vs Real Madrid match, while Shakhtar is caretaker without points.

The hosts looked confident going into their debut match in Europe's top flight and were able to take the lead in the 16th minute through Traore's goal.

Starting with wing-back Cristiano's success in winning the ball on the left side of the field, he crossed a cross which was met by Traore's accurate volley without giving goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov a chance to react.

Three minutes later Pyatov made a blunder when Sebastien Thill's cross was cut off by Sebastien Thill on the edge of Shakhtar's box, who then crossed, but Jasurbek Yaxshiboyev's finishing shot was too weak and easily saved by Pyatov.

Shakhtar slowly got up and tried to score a goal back when Fernando sent a fine through ball towards Lassina Traore, unfortunately the former Ajax striker's shot was perfectly anticipated by goalkeeper Giorgos Athanasiadis over the crossbar.

The Sheriff managed to stifle the visitors' revival efforts to maintain their lead until halftime and in the 51st minute Athanasidis made another brilliant save to save Marlos' shot which had swerved into Dulanto.

Despite continued pressure, the hosts managed to steal a second goal in the 62nd minute when their counter-attack was ended by Cristiano's cross which this time was completed by Yansane's sharp header into the top left corner of the goal.

ано The Best «Шахтар»...👉⚽️https://t.co/wZj79G0uGm pic.twitter.com/k1Ydkns5KR

— FC Sheriff (@FotclubSheriff) September 15, 2021

The Sheriff should have scored three or four goals in this game, unfortunately Traore's curling shot was narrowly sideways from the target and Frank Castaneda's low effort was saved by Pyatov.

On the other hand, Shakhtar failed to convert their dominance of ball possession without producing a single goal until the final whistle sounded.

The positive trend will certainly be continued by the Sheriffs when they travel to Real Madrid in their second match on September 28, a few hours after Shakhtar host Inter Milan in Ukraine.