Army Men ousted in UEFA Cup by Shakhtar Donetsk

After winning the opening leg against Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 at Luzhniki Stadium, CSKA Moskva were defeated 2-0 by the legendary Ukraine side in Donetsk. The victory casts the Moskva side, who many cast as a late favourite to hoist the trophy, out of the tournament and will leave many wondering the tactical direction they choose.

For the match CSKA Moskva manager Zico was without Yury Zhirkov who was suspended for the match and without the great Russian international it was obvious that the Army-Men lacked any punch. Knowing that an "away" goal by the visitors would likely see them through, Mircea Lucescu's Shakhtar's side totally controlled CSKA and scoring threats by the visitors were few and far between. Playing quite cautiously CSKA held the home side off the mark before the break but eight minutes after a restart the match took a dramatic turn as they spot was pointed to when Pavel Mamaev fouled Fernandinho in the area. Grabbing the ball Fernandinho drove the ball into the lower left corner to give Shakhtar the one goal margin and total command of play. Five minutes past the hour Zico called upon Evgeni Aldonin and Daniel Carvalho but without an attacking threat by CSKA, Shakhtar doubled the margin with twenty minutes remaining as Luiz Adriano struck from twelve metres out. Knowing CSKA would advance with a goal, Shakhtar completely shut down the visitors and won 2-0 and now advance to the next round of the UEFA Cup.