The Ukrainian football champions Shakhtar Donetsk have to worry about progressing in the Europa League and therefore also about further guest appearances in Hamburg this season.
In the first leg of the playoff round on Thursday evening at the Volksparkstadion it was only enough for a 2-2 (0-0) draw against Olympique Marseille. Despite a late equalizer for Donetsk, the French top club has a better starting position for the second game next Thursday in their own stadium.
Former Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave Marseille the lead in the 64th minute and also set up his team’s second goal through Iliman Ndiaye in the 90th minute. The goals for Shakhtar were scored by Mikola Matwijenko in the 68th minute and the Brazilian Eguinaldo in stoppage time (90+3).
Because of the Russian war of aggression in their homeland, the Ukrainians are playing their international home games in Hamburg this season. In the first half of the season, FC Porto, FC Barcelona and Royal Antwerp were guests at the Volksparkstadion in the Champions League preliminary round. As third in the group, Schachtar can now continue playing in the Europa League after the winter break.
Lisbon wins
German coach Roger Schmidt narrowly won with Benfica Lisbon at the start of the Europa League second round. Thanks to a converted penalty by world champion Angel Di Maria in the eighth minute of stoppage time, the top Portuguese club defeated FC Toulouse 2-1 (0-0) and headed for the round of 16.
Di Maria (68th) had already used a penalty kick to take the lead, then Mikkel Desler (75th) equalized. Things got hectic in the final phase: Mawissa Elebi was shown yellow-red for his foul (90+6), then the Argentinian Di Maria decided the game with strong nerves.
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AC Milan is also on course, the top Italian club won comfortably 3-0 (1-0) against Stade Rennes. In the Conference League, Ajax Amsterdam put in a fantastic final spurt. With goals from Branco van den Boomen (90+1) and Steven Berghuis (90+7), the top Dutch club managed to equalize 2-2 (0-1) against FK Bodo Glimt.
