Shakhtar Donetsk clinched their second win of the Champions League group stage with a 5-0 victory over BATE Borisov in Lviv this evening.
Luiz Adriano scored a hat-trick for the second European game in a row, while Darijo Srna and Alex Teixeira were also on the scoresheet.
The visitors had a player sent off after Anri Khagush picked up two bookings just before the break.
Here, Sports Mole takes a closer look at the result.
Match statistics
SHAKHTAR DONETSK
Shots: 19
On target: 9
Possession: 70%
Corners: 7
Fouls: 7
BATE BORISOV
Shots: 3
On target: 1
Possession: 30%
Corners: 6
Fouls: 13
Was the result fair?
Shakhtar certainly deserved the win this evening. The visitors defended well in the first half to restrict their opponents to just a single goal in the opening 45 minutes, but the Ukrainian champions upped their game after the break to cruise to another big win over BATE. The Belarus side will be disappointed with the scoreline, as they were only down by three heading into the last 10 minutes, but they switched off too early to allow Luiz Adriano to complete a deserved hat-trick.
Shakhtar's performance
The home side did not make as bright a start as they did in their away fixture against BATE, but they always looked the stronger of the two sides. While some good defending restricted them in the first half, Shakhtar always looked dangerous going forward, with Adriano, Taison and Alex Teixeira running rings around the BATE defence. While Borisov were not brilliant, Shakhtar did play superbly for their five-goal winning margin, and should be confident heading into their final two matches of the group, with top spot still up for grabs.
BATE's performance
In the first half, it looked like BATE had learned from their 7-0 defeat to Shakhtar last month, but the sending-off of Anri Khagush really changed the game. The visitors could not restrict the high-tempo attack of Shakhtar after the break, regularly looking stretched and sluggish at the back. They offered little going forward as well, forcing just one save from Andriy Pyatov and just seemed to give up too easily.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Luiz Adriano: The striker was a real team player in the first half, creating chances for Taison and Teixeira rather than looking for the goal himself, although he was unlucky not to find the back of the net on the stroke of half time. He provided an assist for Teixeira's goal early in the second half before proceeding to complete his second hat-trick in as many games, leaving himself as the leading goalscorer in the Champions League so far this season. It was a stunning performance from the Brazilian.
Biggest gaffe
Khagush's red card was a real game-changer just before half time. The visitors had survived a furious attacking spell for Shakhtar to make it to the break just a goal down, but the defender let his temper get the better of him and he talked himself into a red card. With BATE trailing by just one at that point, they were far from out of it, but it took Shakhtar less than two minutes in the second half to double their lead. He left his teammates with far too much extra work for a pointless sending-off.
Referee performance
Wolfgang Stark had a number of big decisions to make, and he got the majority of them right. He warned the already-booked Khagush to drop his argument, and was left with no choice but to book him when he continued to row with the referee and Shakhtar captain Srna. He also had to award a penalty when Adriano was dragged down in the box, which BATE can have no complaints with. However, he may have missed an offside in the run up to Teixeira's goal at the start of the second half, but it was definitely more good than bad from the experienced German.
What next?
Shakhtar: Shakhtar host Dnipro in the league at the weekend, and will travel to Karpaty ahead of their next Champions League outing against Athletic Bilbao later this month.
BATE: The Belarusian champions host Naftan this weekend before an away game at Gomel prior to their tie with Porto at the end of November.
Sian Cowper
