In the Zone: Leipzig vs Shakhtar performance analysis

Shakhtar Donetsk produced one of the outstanding results of Matchday 1 with their 4-1 triumph at Group F rivals Leipzig on Tuesday night. The team from Ukraine scored only two goals in last season's UEFA Champions League group stage, picking up just two points, but they earned an emphatic victory in eastern Germany on a night when their wide attackers, Marian Shved and Mykhailo Mudryk, shone brightly and finished superbly – indeed Shakhtar hit four goals from five attempts overall.

In this article, brought to you by FedEx, UEFA's Technical Observer panel assess how Shakhtar earned a result which led to the departure of home coach Domenico Tedesco, who was dismissed afterwards and replaced by Marco Rose.

Goals

0-1: Marian Shved (16)

A mistake from Leipzig's Péter Gulásci, far out of his penalty box, provided the opening goal for Shved. With Shved approaching to pressure him, Gulásci attempted a drag-back but lost control, teeing up Shved, who rolled the ball into an empty net from outside the box.

1-1: Mohamed Simakan (57)

The Frenchman's first Champions League goal followed a neat combination from the Bundesliga side. Leipzig advanced the ball centrally as far as the D, where Dominik Szoboszlai flicked a pass on towards Simakan. The right-back had been hugging the touchline but was now in the right position on the right of the box to side-foot a shot high inside the near post.

1-2: Marian Shved (58)

Shakhtar provided the perfect riposte, scoring inside 13 passes of the restart. They worked the cleverly ball back to goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin, drawing Leipzig's forwards on to them, before then beating the press in a move that ended with Mudryk surging in from the left and laying the ball across to Shved, whose shot deflected off Willi Orbán to wrong-foot Gulásci.

1-3: Mykhailo Mudryk (76)

Shakhtar countered from deep after Szoboszlai's shot was blocked in the second phase following a corner; substitute Neven Durasek nicked the ball off a white shirt then fed Georgiy Sudakov speeding up the right. He then squared to Mudryk, who took one touch before sweeping a low shot across Gulásci and inside the far post.

1-4: Lassina Traoré (80)

The substitute's strike followed a good middle-third build-up. Left-back Yukhym Konoplia, rotating with Sudakov, came infield and fed a ball inside Simakan, the full-back, for Mudryk to burst on to behind the home defence and cross low for Traoré to finish from close range. With it he secured Shakhtar their first Champions League victory by three or more goals since 2015.

Player of the Match: Marian Shved (Shahktar)

It was a dream debut in the group stage for Shved, whose only previous taste of the Champions League had come in a qualifying round match for Celtic against Nõmme Kalju in 2019 (and he scored then too). On his first start for Shakhtar, he excelled in the visitors' offensive transitions – he was quick and direct with the ball and showed intelligence in recognising space to exploit when Leipzig were in possession. Without the ball, he was disciplined and pressed effectively to protect his full-back.

Team formations

Leipzig

Leipzig's 4-2-2-2 shape when in possession

Leipzig's formation was a fluid 4-2-3-1 which took the shape of a 4-2-2-2 when they were in possession, and defensively would become a 4-4-1-1 or 4-4-2. On the ball their aim was to dominate possession and they created threats through central overloads to release the full-backs in advanced areas, as seen in the goal they scored. In the first half, Marcel Halstenberg (23) looked to get high up the pitch on the left while Simakan (2) and Szoboszlai (17) provided width on the right.

In attack, Christopher Nkunku (18) moved towards the ball to link play while André Silva (19) sought to threaten the back line. Just behind the front two, Timo Werner (11), working between the lines, was effective at times in receiving the ball on the back foot to play forward.

Shakhtar

Shakhtar set up in a 4-1-4-1 formation

Shakhtar set up in a 4-1-4-1 formation which became a 4-2-3-1 at times in possession. Their wide forwards, Shved (9) and Mudryk (10), would stay wide but the full-backs were quite conservative and conscious of Leipzig's counterattacking threat. With a switching to a 4-4-1-1 out of possession, Shved and Mudryk would tuck inside to form a midfield four alongside Artem Bondarenko (21) and Taras Stepanenko (6) and, with a narrow back four behind them, the aim was to close the passing lanes inside and try limiting Leipzig to passes outside.

Features

As the video above shows, a key feature of the contest was the way Shakhtar played out from the back, purposely encouraging the Leipzig press and then seeking to exploit the wide areas where, thanks to the hosts' narrow midfield, they could create overloads in the wide areas.

This is perfectly illustrated in the passage of play leading up to their second goal, when they restarted after Leipzig's equaliser and worked the ball back to their goalkeeper. In a 37-second sequence between restarting and the ball hitting the net they moved the ball patiently around in their defensive third, in a 6v5 scenario, before finding the space to play out, beating the press and releasing Mudryk out on the left. From there he raced forward, cut inside and fed Shved to score.

If this was not strictly a transition, it fitted the overall picture of a team who stayed organised and compact, and spotted the right moments to play forward quickly.

From a defensive viewpoint, the Ukrainian team were disciplined and resilient and did well defending set pieces on a night Leipzig had nine corners to Shakhtar's one. Defender Valeriy Bondar (5) caught the eye for his athleticism and excellent defending of 1v1 s as well as his composure in the build-up phase.

From a Leipzig perspective this was a night to forget, a night where their individual errors and lack of defensive balance left them exposed when they lost the ball. They used the width effectively in possession at times with some threatening wide attacks but, in the view of the UEFA match observer, their narrow structure left them exposed to 2v1s in the wide areas. Tedesco, the coach who had led them to their first major trophy, the German Cup, only last May, paid the price with his job.

Coaches' and players' assessments

Domenico Tedesco, ex-Leipzig coach: "The players were up for it and it wouldn't be fair to accuse them of a lack of mentality. They sprinted and they got forward. We started the second half brilliantly and got the equaliser, but then Shakhtar's second shot on target goes in. It's tough. We simply lost possession balls too easily and were forced to deal with a lot of counterattacks. Therefore, we became less brave and didn't play forward as much."

Igor Jovićević, Shakhtar coach: "I know Marian Shved from my time at [Karpaty] Lviv and when Sevilla took him I wanted him back. Now I am happy that he is back in my team. He is a hard worker, quick and powerful and I know what he is capable of."

Konrad Laimer, Leipzig midfielder: "We were pushing our full-backs high up the pitch, risking something, then scored a deserved equaliser and I was sure we were going to win but 60 seconds later we conceded and I could not believe that had just happened."

Taras Stepanenko, Shakhtar captain: "This is a new team, but many of these young players are from the Shakhtar academy so they have the Shakhtar spirit, and this really helps us a lot. We are a tight group and have a lot of spirit."