Shakhtar, Zenit in Donetsk stalemate

19 October 2011 22:05

Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk twice surrendered a lead to draw 2-2 with Russia's Zenit St Petersburg, who missed a penalty, in the Champions League Group G on Wednesday.

Brazilians Willian and Luiz Adriano scored one apiece for Shakhtar, while Roman Shirokov and Viktor Faizulin were on target for Zenit.

Shakhtar, who came into the match having clinched just one point in their first two matches, should have been a goal down in the 10th minute.

But Shirokov missed a penalty when Shakhtar keeper Alexander Rybka saved his spotkick following a foul on Faizulin.

Shakhtar made the most of their lifeline five minutes later when Willian beat Zenit goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeyev with a shot from the edge of the box.

In the 23rd minute, Zenit replied with a dangerous attack by forward Alexander Bukharov, who dribbled through the defence on the left before passing to Danny.

He fed Faizulin who could only hit the woodwork from seven metres.

In the 33rd minute Zenit pulled level through Shirokov, who chested down Bukharov's pass past Rybka, sending the ball home with a sharp-angled shot.

However, Shakhtar went into the dressing room with a 2-1 lead as Razvan Rat sliced through the Zenit defence with a razor-sharp pass from the right to Adriano, who swivelled and drove the ball in from 12 metres in injury time.

On the hour mark, Faizulin equalised, beating Rybka from 25 metres.

Source: AFP