Substitute Maycon grabs Shakhtar draw with Hoffenheim

PARIS: Brazilian youngster Maycon came off the bench to rescue Shakhtar Donetsk a 2-2 draw in their Champions League opener against group-stage debutants Hoffenheim in Kharkiv.

Paulo Fonseca’s Ukrainian champions trailed twice, but the 21-yearold Maycon’s first goal for the club in the 81st minute grabbed a point in the Group F clash on Wednesday.

Julian Nagelsmann’s Hoffenheim got off to a dream start as Florian Grillitsch gave them the lead in only the sixth minute.

After the visitors snatched the ball on the halfway line, the Austrian midfielder latched onto Leonardo Bittencourt’s perfectly-weighted through ball before casually dinking the ball into the net to score his third goal for the club.

The debutants almost grabbed a second goal on the quarter-hour mark, but striker Adam Szalai’s well-struck volley was parried away by home goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov.

But Shakhtar grew into the game, and just seconds after Taras Stepanenko headed over, Ismaily levelled with a fine individual goal, as the Brazilian fullback cut inside from the left-hand side and curled home with the outside of his foot.

The Germans continued to look dangerous on the counter-attack, though, and after Bittencourt’s header was saved by Pyatov, the keeper failed to claim a corner and Havard Nordtveit headed into an empty net to restore their advantage in the 38th minute. — AFP