Sought-after Fred wins it for Shakhtar with free-kick

SHAKHTARDONETSK

Ferreyra 52, Fred 71

AS ROMA

Under 41

2

Shaktar Donetsk came from behind to beat Roma 2-1 in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 meeting thanks to a spectacular winner from Brazil midfielder Fred.

The 24-year-old showed why some of Europe’s top clubs are keeping tabs on him with a superb freekick in the 71st minute.

Facundo Ferreyra had equalised for the Ukrainians early in the second half after Cengiz Under continued his fine run of form by giving Roma the lead shortly before half-time.

There were early chances for both sides and Roma’s Edin Dzeko saw his closerange attempt parried by Andriy Pyatov.

Roma started to take control and took a deserved lead four minutes from halftime. Dzeko put in a perfectly-weighted pass to 20-year-old Turkey winger Under, whose finish bounced off Pyatov and into the far side of the net.

The home side levelled six minutes after the interval when Ferreyra latched on to a through ball and fired past Alisson.

The keeper did pull off a number of good stops, including a brilliant fingertip save from Taison but was helpless against Fred’s 20-yard free kick.