Shakhtar shatter Rennes dream

Stade Rennais FC saw their hopes of making it into the Round of 32 vanish as they went down to a third consecutive defeat, this time at the hands of FC Shakhtar Donetsk, in UEFA Cup Group G.

Shakhtar through
Blumer Elano’s first-half penalty proved the deciding moment and ensured that Shakhtar ended a successful qualification campaign with another win, their third in the pool, to put them level on points at the top with AFC Rapid Bucuresti. Rennes, meanwhile, can turn their attentions to domestic matters in Ligue 1 with their last group game against PAOK FC now meaning little.

Strong start
The French side’s young goalkeeper Simon Pouplin had to make an early save from Elano Blumer as Shakhtar took charge in the early stages of the encounter. Fernandinho then fired over, but 22 minutes in Rennes fired a warning shot of their own, going close when Yoann Gourcuff missed the target from 18 metres. Normal service was quickly resumed however as Pouplin turned over a dangerous free-kick from Elano Blumer.

Deserved goal
John Utaka thought he had put Rennes in front, only for his effort to be ruled offside, and on 36 minutes the visitors got the goal their possession had deserved. Awarded a penalty after Jacques Faty had fouled Julius Aghahowa, Elano Blumer buried the spot-kick into the bottom-left corner.

Rennes fightback
Rennes were not going to give-up, however, and went close when Olivier Monterrubio had a shot blocked by Shakhtar defender Razvan Rat shortly before the interval. They came out fighting in the second period too with Erik Edman's cross creating a chance for Gourcuff, who headed over, before Etienne Didot's long-range effort was tipped over by Dmitri Shutkov.

Missed chances
Alexander Frei then headed over as Rennes piled on the pressure but the French side were often reduced to long-range efforts as time started to run out. Gourcuff had another chance before the end, firing over, before Shakhtar squandered two chances to make the points absolutely safe at the other end - Brandão hitting a shot just too high and Pouplin doing well to keep out a shot from Romanian striker Ciprian Marica.