BELGRADE – Shakhtar Donetsk, RB Salzburg and Sheriff Tiraspol edged closer to the lucrative Champions League group stage after winning the first-legs of their playoff-round ties.
A Pedrinho goal gave Shakhtar a 1-0 win at Monaco while Salzburg fought back from a goal down to beat Brondby 2-1 at home as Karim Adeyemi and Brenden Aaronson cancelled out Mikael Uhre’s opener for the visitors.
Sheriff staged the shock of the night with a 3-0 home rout of Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb as they bid to become the first Moldovan team to reach the group stage of Europe’s premier club competition.
Monaco dominated Shakhtar but Pedrinho earned a smash-and-grab win for the visitors as he weaved his way past three defenders in the 19th minute and beat goalkeeper Radoslaw Majecki with a clinical finish from 11 metres.
The home side missed a string of chances to come away with something from the game as Shakhtar keeper Anatolii Trubin pulled off several fine saves and substitute Myron Boadu hit the post for Monaco.
Uhre fired Brondby into a fourth-minute lead in a pulsating clash at Salzburg as he held off a marker and turned to drill in a low shot after good work from Kevin Mensah on the left flank.
Adeyemi levelled in the 54th minute when he swept in a loose ball from inside the penalty area and Salzburg then piled on the pressure as they kept visiting keeper Mads Hermansen busy, while Anis Ben Slimane rattled the crossbar at the other end.
Halftime substitute Aaronson delighted the home fans in the 90th minute when he planted his shot inside the near post after a fine solo run by centre back Oumar Solet, who fed the scorer with a defence-spliting pass.
Sheriff had Dinamo on the back foot from the start and Adama Traore fired them ahead on the stroke of halftime when he rifled in an unstoppable shot past goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic after a clever pass by right back Cristiano.
Dimitris Kolovos made it 2-0 in the 54th with the goal of the night, unleashing a sumptuous first-time volley as he demonstrated sublime individual skill to meet Momo Yansane’s cross from the left.
Traore added the icing on the cake for Sheriff with his second in the 80th minute, racing clear of his markers to cap a counter-attack as the home side broke away after a Dinamo free kick at the other end.
Dinamo’s international winger Mislav Orsic was livid.
“This is the club’s worst performance since I’ve been here and I am at a loss to describe how disappointed we are,” Orsic was quoted as saying by Croatian media according to Reuters.
“The score doesn’t flatter Sheriff, it flatters us. There will be no sleeping tonight and we’ll need nothing less than a miracle in the return leg.”
