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UEFA Champions League: Borussia Dortmund 3 Shakhtar Donetsk 0 (agg. 5-2)

SoccerNews in General Soccer News 5 Mar 2013

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Borussia Dortmund strolled into the Champions League quarter-finals after a 3-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk at Signal Iduna Park.

The two sides had played out a tense 2-2 draw in Ukraine three weeks ago, but the Germans took the lead in the return leg through Felipe Santana on the half-hour mark, with Mario Goetze doubling the lead soon after.

Shakhtar rallied after the break, but all hopes of a comeback were killed off when Jakub Blaszczykowski made it 3-0.

Just as in the first leg, it was Dortmund who started the game the better of the two sides. Within minutes, they had won a corner which Robert Lewandowski met, only to make poor contact on the ball and have it blocked.

Soon after, Goetze had picked out Polish striker Lewandowski, who failed to get his shot away in time, allowing Andriy Pyatov to scurry off his line and block the strike from close range.

Marcel Schmelzer then forced the ball across the box, almost finding Goetze, who flung out a leg, but could not make clean enough contact on the ball to force it into the net.

Lukasz Piszczek and Goetze wasted further opportunities to give their side the lead, but on the half-hour mark, they finally had a deserved advantage, with Santana meeting a corner from the right with a magnificent header which gave Pyatov little chance.

Seven minutes later, Juergen Klopp’s side were well and truly in control of the tie. Lewandowski found space down the right and squared it to Goetze, who sent a delicate flick past Pyatov and into the corner of the net.

More hesitance from Lewandowski denied them a third, with Oleksandr Kucher making a good block, and it would have been no less than they deserved after a dominant first half.

The closest Shakhtar came to a reply was in first-half stoppage time, when Fernandinho strode down the right and miscued a cross, almost catching out Roman Weidenfeller, who was forced to back-peddle and tip it over the bar.

Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu withdrew Taison and introduced Douglas Costa at the break, and the Brazilian almost had an instant impact, driving wide after being set up by Luiz Adriano.

Alex Teixeira and Fernandinho came close to giving a much-improved Shakhtar a path back into the match, while at the other end, Pyatov was forced into good saves to deny Marco Reus and Goetze.

The visitors’ frantic start to the second period had died down, and their chances of progression were dealt a definitive blow just before the hour mark.

Pyatov clumsily spilled an Ilkay Gundogan effort right into the path of Blaszczykowski, who kept his composure to lift the ball over the sprawling goalkeeper to make it 3-0.

Dortmund were heading for the last eight, and missed chances to give themselves a four-goal advantage when Goetze fired wide, Lewandowski failed to read Reus’ pass and Kevin Grosskreutz had a shot tipped wide.

At the other end Yaroslav Rakytskyy had two efforts saved by Weidenfeller, who had enjoyed a quiet evening, but was alert enough to deny Luiz Adriano from close range after a deflected effort fell into the Brazilian’s path.

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