Ukraine tamed by Turkey in final friendly

A much-changed Ukraine lost their last warm-up game before UEFA EURO 2012, goals from Caner Erkin and Mustafa Pektemek giving Turkey victory in Ingolstadt.

The defeat was Ukraine's second friendly loss in a row after Friday's 3-2 defeat by Austria. Oleh Blokhin had said before the match that the starting XI would not be the same as for their Group D opener against Sweden next Monday, and a makeshift defence was punished either side of half-time.

The UEFA EURO 2012 co-hosts started well enough, enjoying the majority of possession, but Turkey looked dangerous on the counterattack and struck on the half-hour. Mustafa opened up Ukraine's defence with a pass to Caner, who drove under Andriy Pyatov to open the scoring.

Ukraine looked most likely to reply from set pieces, and Yaroslav Rakitskiy went closest from one of these, heading Olexandr Aliyev's free-kick goalwards only to be denied by Turkey goalkeeper Mert Günok. Blokhin's side were showing plenty of endeavour but it was Turkey who were displaying the threat, and they duly doubled their lead with 20 minutes to go.

Arda Turan was the provider this time, crossing for Mustafa to apply a clinical finish. Andriy Shevchenko had the best chances to raise hopes of a comeback, but he headed just over and then, in the 80th minute, hit the bar with a stinging volley that cannoned away to safety.