Shakhtar Donetsk equalized twice against Chelsea and spent very long portions of the game looking like the more dangerous side, but some terrible defensive and goalkeeping errors helped the Blues to a 3-2 victory at Stamford Bridge. They now lead Group E of the Champions League, and are in a much better position to advance than they were before the match.
Chelsea vs. Shakhtar Donetsk: Final score 3-2, Victor Moses rescues Blues
Chelsea are back in control of their own destiny in the UEFA Champions League, following their victory over Shakhtar Donetsk. In a thriller, substitute Victor Moses grabbed a stoppage time winner.
Andriy Pyatov had a an absolutely horrific first half, giving away two goals directly. The first went to Fernando Torres, who was the fortunate recipient of a terrible clearance attempt by the Shakhtar goalkeeper. He kicked a ball directly into the feet of Torres, who got credit for a goal that was absolutely handed to him.
The visitors answered quickly through Willian, though the setup was much more of the highlight than the actual finish. Fernandinho set up the goal with a fantastic surging run into the box and a cutback ball to the center of the penalty area, where a waiting Willian punched in to level the match at 1-1.
Chelsea made a tactical switch around the 20th minute, switching to a 4-3-3 formation with Oscar dropping back from an attacking role to a central midfield role. The young Brazilian also took on the role of denying service of the ball to Willian, which worked well for the rest of the half.
Oscar scored Chelsea's second just before halftime, and by chance, his deeper starting position put him in the perfect spot to score the goal. On an attempted diagonal through to Fernando Torres from Juan Mata, Pyatov rushed out of his area to head clear. His header bounced right to Oscar, who spotted the Shakhtar keeper well off his line and hit a stellar half-volley finish from 40 yards to move his team into the lead.
It only took two minutes of play in the first half for Willian to score his second goal of the game, tying up the match. Fernandinho had a big part in setting up the goal again, playing a ball down the right flank to Darijo Srna. He picked out Willian in the center of the area, and he scored from a similar area with his first touch.
The game's final goal didn't come until stoppage of time, but there was plenty of action between goals. Ravzan Rat nearly put Shakhtar ahead in the 55th minute on a great half-volley from outside the area after a corner, but Petr Cech came up with a big save.
Chelsea had a penalty shout late in the second half when Srna appeared to trip over his own feet and inadvertently take down Ramires, but the referee waived play on. Not long afterwards, John Obi Mikel had a volley from outside the area sail just inches wide of the far post.
Right after that miss, Chelsea made a decisive substitution, bringing on Victor Moses for Oscar. A more aggressive Blues side eventually created the winner in stoppage time, off of a corner. Some awful marking by Shakhtar allowed Moses to get free in the area, and he nodded an uncontested header by Pyatov to nearly blow the roof off of Stamford Bridge and put Chelsea back on top of the group.
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