Pedrinho wonder strike kickstarts late Shakhtar surge as AZ face mammoth task

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/turan-arda/K0HKnqmK/"]Arda Turan[/a]'s [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/shakhtar/4ENWX2OA/"]Shakhtar[/a] played in their first European quarterfinal since 2020, when the Ukrainian giants were knocked out of the UEFA Europa League after a 5-0 drubbing by Inter. Meanwhile, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/az-alkmaar/2RxOow1i/"]AZ[/a] reached the UEFA Conference League quarters for the second time in three years after Anderlecht were beaten after penalties in 2023.[/p][p]A shock injury to Shakhtar midfielder [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/isaque/SpxUba66/"]Isaque[/a] halted play as the Brazilian midfielder went down and looked unconscious after an awkward fall together with AZ full-back [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/maikuma-seiya/WroKDcBc/"]Seiya Maikuma[/a]. Isaque was taken off for treatment, but returned for ten minutes before being taken off permanently.[/p][p]Attendees in the Synerise Arena in Krakow, Poland, had to wait 44 minutes for the first attempt on goal, which Shakhtar's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/alisson/nHKAso1L/"]Alisson[/a] accounted for and was saved easily by veteran goalkeeper [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/zoet-jeroen/IDI0wVTT/"]Jeroen Zoet[/a].[/p][embed guid="d64597e6-0a3f-4f01-8a6d-e007bdb9769a" url="https://x.com/Conf_League/status/2042342586816356445?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]A livelier second half saw the sides exchange chances for Weslley Patati and Kauã Elias, but neither truly threatened to open the scoring.[/p][p][b]It seemed unlikely for either side to score, but it was Shakhtar who broke the deadlock after 72 minutes via a wonder goal from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/pedrinho/QHsZiZRo/"]Pedrinho[/a], who took the ball on the bounce and produced a moment of magic by burying it in the top corner as the ball kissed the crossbar.[/b][/p][p]A series of AZ chances fell through on the final pass as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/meerdink-mexx/OjqNXAED/"]Mexx Meerdink[/a] was an inch too short to the ball in, a lovely team move ended with a clearance as Shakhtar stopper [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/riznyk-dmytro/b3DGuTi6/"]Dmytro Rinzyk[/a] looked all but beaten, and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mijnans-sven/OhTLBILt/"]Sven Mijnans[/a] had his surprise shot saved.[/p][image alt="Match momentum" id="53c88dc6-ae04-45b8-b284-ef28314e6f1f" credit-line="Opta via StatsPerform" guid="8c3b84fe-7512-45df-b6b2-432e8f9e9a44" original-width="1920" original-height="1080" /][p][b]Not finishing their own chances cost AZ dearly as a loose ball from a corner fell kindly to Alisson, who timed his shot to perfection and buried it in the bottom corner.[/b][/p][p][b]A late surge saw Shakhtar take a royal lead with them to Alkmaar as Alisson was the final station of a wonderful attack in the 84th minute.[/b][/p][p]Shakhtar's late efforts handed them full advantage for next week's return in Alkmaar, where Arda Turan's men will defend a 3-0 lead.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/az-alkmaar-2RxOow1i/shakhtar-donetsk-4ENWX2OA/?mid=AHyVWMHa"]Check out the match statistics on Flashscore[/a][/b][/p][image alt="Key match stats" id="a90e9566-ff0d-4fad-909a-e7a88acef532" credit-line="Opta via StatsPerform" guid="bac6fe9f-6e21-4186-b0bc-f3238dc40b04" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /]