Shakhtar 3:0 Chornomorets Adriano 4, Kravchenko 71, Duljaj 74 Pyatov, Yezerskiy, Kucher, Chyhrynskiy (Polyanskiy 46), Duljaj, Lewandowski, Willian, Ilsinho (Hladkiy 58), Vukic (Kravchenko 65), Rat, Adriano Rudenko, Nizhegorodov, Gimenez, Shandruk, Biletskiy (Humenyuk 78), Leviha (Venhlynskiy 68), Edgar, De la Haza, Vazquez, Kornev, Mello (Valeev 46) Willian 81 De la Haza 5, 19, Vazquez 35 De la Haza 19 Adriano 63

The third encounter between Chornomorets and Shakhtar was the least intriguing. The result of the first leg and visitors’ unwillingness to fight contributed to that. For some reason Shevchenko fielded just one forward Leviha leaving Venhlynskiy and Fernandes on the bench. Lucescu also chose the formation with two defensive midfielders and a lone striker.

Despite that Shakhtar began the match confidently and took the lead just four minutes into the game. Yezerskiy crossed into the area from the right flank, Lewandowski and Adriano struggled for the ball and the Brazilian found himself in the clear just several meters from goal. Unlike his teammates Hladkiy and Brandao, Luis Adriano used his chance to the full – 1:0.

After the early goal hosts continued to dominate on the pitch. Chornomorets could barely enter the opponents’ half and when they did they looked unconvincing. On 16 minutes Mello dared to shoot from long distance and Pyatov could only turn it behind. The corner almost lead to the goal into the opposite net. Pyatov started the quick counterattack that ended with Ilsinho’s tricky pass to Willian whose clever backheel just missed the ball.

On 19 minutes De la Haza got his second yellow card and the match was as good as over. Being down to ten men, Chornomorets couldn’t hope for anything. To add to that, Nizhegorodov and Villamarin weren’t fast enough to mark Shakhtar Brazilians.

Adriano had three more opportunities to score in the first half. On 31 minutes he went one-on-one with the keeper after Lewandowski’s pass but missed. Eight minutes later Luis connected at the back post with Willian’s cross and once again put the ball wide. On 43 minutes his bicycle kick from the penalty area also went behind.

The second half brought no changes as hosts continued to attack and visitors defended. Valeev missed a rare chance for counterattack and Chornomorets were punished for that immediately after Willian’s rifled effort from within the penalty area bounced off the post and hit Nizhegorodov’s hand. The referee awarded a dubious penalty kick. Luis Adriano took it but couldn’t outplay Rudenko.

Eight minutes later the keeper was unable to save his team after brilliant drive from 25 meters by Kravchenko. The hammering was completed by Duljaj in a Brazilian fashion. Willian’s through pass left Chornomorets defenders standing, Duljaj rounded the lying keeper and tapped the ball into the empty net.

Hladkiy could make the scoreline disastrous but wasted his going one-on-one with Rudenko. Three minutes before the final whistle Chornomorets made their second shot on goal of the match as Vazquez rifled the ball from 40 meters straight at the keeper.

Vitaliy Shevchenko, Chornomorets head coach:

– Unfortunately, we conceded an early goal which, as to my mind, was scored from an offside position. Moreover, their player handed the football. Then one of our players was sent off and it became the hurdle that couldn’t overcome. Shakhtar are a strong team, everybody knows it. The beginning of the match determined its outcome.

- Did you really want to win?

- We wanted to fight. There is no such team, even in Europe, who could claim victory before coming to Donetsk. We just wanted to compete for the trophy.

Mircea Lucescu, Shakhtar head coach:

– In fact, there is nothing to discuss. If it hadn't been for Rudenko (Chornomorets goalkeeper), we would have scored 7 unanswered goals, or even more… You might have been surprised by the lineup I fielded today. First of all, I had to spare those players who already have 6 yellow cards. I couldn’t run the risk of losing them at the end of the season. Second, I wanted to field those players who hadn’t played for a while but were eager to play. Today they proved they were worth playing in the first team.

It’s easy to draw a parallel between the refereeing in today’s match and the the league game we played in Odessa, but I won’t do it. Shebek (refereed league match against Dnipro) and Podushkin (today’s referee) proved that there is a rule they are following: if a player is staying close to the football and thus hinders his opponent’s taking a free kick, he deserves a yellow card. Shmyhelskiy should have applied this rule to Biletskiy. I feel like using a dirty word but I won’t. He simply had to caution him yet at the beginning of the second half. It could have changed a lot then – they could have been left with ten men on the field.

We still have six league games ahead. I hope boys will preserve the mood they were in today. I hope the refereeing won’t be biased. I hope referee’s decisions will not be influenced by a score or will not be dependant on their mood.

- How would you evaluate Ilsinho’s performance?

- Ilsinho is now becoming the Ilsinho we want to see. He still has enormous potential.

- Shakhtar are to face Dynamo in the Cup final. There is an opinion that the Miners are afraid of Dynamo.

- We are not afraid of Dynamo. We only want to have impartial refereeing. We are constantly expecting a referee to send off our player. We are constantly thinking about it. I repeat: Shakhtar deserve more respect. I think that we are the best team in Ukrainian league. Our players are the best, our performance is always a spectacle. Just do some Internet surfing. According to transfermarkt.de our players cost twice as much as Dynamo players. We are not afraid of anybody. Unfortunately, our opponents don’t want to play football with us, they are simply trying not to concede.

- It can happen that some of your key players will be on the edge of disqualification on the eve of the Cup final. Will you be ready to give in the Cup for the sake of the league title?

- I don’t think such problem shall occur.