KHARKIV, Ukraine – Shakhtar Donetsk fought back from a goal down as Fred’s free kick gave the Ukrainians a 2-1 victory over Roma on Wednesday in their Champions League last-16 first leg.
Turkish youngster Cengiz Under marked his Champions League debut for Roma with a well-taken 41st-minute opener after latching on to Edin Dzeko’s clever through-ball.
Shakhtar were much improved after the break, though, and Facundo Ferreyra ran clear to slot under on-rushing goalkeeper Alisson Becker.
The hosts completed the turnaround in style with 19 minutes to play, as Fred curled a free kick in off the crossbar.
But an extraordinary goal-line block from Roma substitute Bruno Peres to deny Ferreyra in the final minute of injury time kept the tie finely balanced ahead of the second leg at the Stadio Olimpico on March 13.
Leading Champions League scorers
11: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
7: Harry Kane (Tottenham), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool)
6: Wissam Ben Yedder (Sevilla), Edinson Cavani (Paris SG), Sadio Mané (Liverpool), Neymar (Paris SG), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
5: Vincent Aboubakar (Porto), Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
4: Sergio Aguero (Man City), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Dortmund), Gonzalo Higuain (Juventus), Romelu Lukaku (Man Utd), Kylian Mbappé (Paris SG), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Dimitri Oberlin (Basel), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Talisca (Besiktas), Cenk Tosun (Besiktas)