UEFA.com
July 27 2004

Shakhtar show their form

FC Shakhtar Donetsk’s hopes of ending a four-year absence from the
UEFA Champions League group stage were boosted with a win at FC
Pyunik in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League second
qualifying round tie.

Marica scores
The Armenian champions had eliminated FK Pobeda in the previous
round, but fell behind to Mircea Lucescu’s side on the half-hour mark
when 19-year-old Romanian striker Ciprian Marica scored his first
European goal for Shakhtar. Fifteen minutes into the second period,
though, Rafayel Nazaryan levelled for Pyunik, who went out at this
stage against PFC CSKA Sofia last season.

Win sealed
Shakhtar have made a flying start in the new Ukrainian season, and
moved closer to continuing their winning run when Marica scored again
with a quarter-hour remaining. Nigerian Julius Aghahowa, who like
Marica was on target in Shakhtar’s 3-1 league win at FC Dnipro
Dnipropetrovsk on Saturday, ensured a repeat of that scoreline
tonight with a goal eight minutes from time. The two sides meet
against next Wednesday in Ukraine.