Shakhtar 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 the Brazil midfielder Fred.
The 24-year-old Fred showed why some of Europe’s top clubs are reportedly scouting him with a perfect free-kick in the 71st minute.
Facundo Ferreyra had levelled for the Ukrainian club early in the second half after Cengiz Ünder continued his fine run of form by giving Roma the lead shortly before half-time.
Roma dominated the first half but it was the Italian club’s Alisson who was the busier of the two goalkeepers.
Shakhtar, who are playing their home matches in Kharkiv as the stadium in Donetsk was damaged by the conflict in Ukraine, had early chances but Roma went the closest when Edin Dzeko saw his attempt parried from close range by Andriy Pyatov, who then did well to kick away the ball.
Roma started to take control and took a deserved lead four minutes from half-time. Dzeko put in a perfectly-weighted pass to Ünder, whose finish bounced off Pyatov and into the far side of the net. It was the 20-year-old Turkey winger’s fifth goal in four matches and the perfect way to mark his Champions League debut.
The Shakhtar defender Serhiy Kryvstov was then taken off on a stretcher with a badly sprained ankle and had to be replaced by Ivan Ordets. However, the home side levelled six minutes after the interval thanks to a mistake from Alessandro Florenzi, who had started the match despite a flu bug.
The Roma midfielder missed Yaroslav Rakitskiy’s through ball, allowing Ferreyra to latch on to it and run around Manolas to fire past Alisson.
Alisson pulled off a number of good stops, including a brilliant save to fingertip Taison’s effort away, but he could do nothing to prevent Fred’s 20-yard free kick from going into the top right corner.
Shakhtar almost extended their lead in stoppage time but Bruno Peres did well to clear Ferreyra’s effort off the line.