Shakhtar Donetsk beat AEK Athens 3-1 on Wednesday night, scoring twice in the last ten minutes after a tight, evenly matched 80 minutes.
How it unfolded
AEK took the lead in the 28th minute. Shakhtar equalised six minutes later, and the game stayed level for a long stretch of the second half. AEK collected yellow cards steadily, four in total, while Shakhtar picked up just one. Then Shakhtar scored in the 80th minute and again in the 86th to finish it off. They had 55% of the ball and 12 shots to AEK’s 11, and the match was closer than 3-1 suggests until those final goals.
The setting
The game was played at Stamford Bridge, the first of Shakhtar’s four “home” Champions League games. It was a gruelling journey across the continent for the Ukrainian side. That makes the win more impressive, because they handled the occasion without a home crowd of their own.
Two teams with different starts
AEK were back in the Champions League main draw for the first time since 2018/19. They opened with a 1-0 home win over LASK. AEK had also lost only three of their last 20 UEFA matches before this one, so the defeat ends a decent run.
Shakhtar had started with a 1-1 draw against PSV Eindhoven. They now have four points from two games, and a good result in this tie could prove important in a league phase this tight.
What’s next
Shakhtar’s next two games are tough. They travel to Inter Milan on October 21, then host Sporting CP on November 3. Real Madrid and RB Leipzig also appear on their schedule in January. AEK will want to bounce back quickly in their remaining league-phase games.