After a promising initial 28 minutes, the first half has turned into a nightmare for Roma. Shakhtar Donetsk, taking advantage of an error by John Arne Riise, have scored their their goal in 13 minutes. This time it was Luis Adriano, all alone in front of Doni, giving Ukraine's champions a 3-1 lead.
The goal came as Riise tried to keep a ball in play along Roma's left, but when the Norweigan slipped, Douglas Costa was there to pick up a free ball. The right winger quickly fed the ball into the middle of the area of Adriano, and before Nicolas Burdisso and Philippe Mexes could react, the ball was in the net, putting Roma down two.
Within the span of 13 minutes, Roma has gone from 1-0 up and controlling the match to 1-3 down and on the verge of being out of this tie. What's more, although Shakhtar Donetsk is a quality club perfectly fit to compete at this level, this performance can't help Claudio Ranieri's chances of staying with Roma. The coach already had whispers surrounding his position after the weekend loss to Napoli.
Now, Roma supporters as will as their soon-to-be owners have this disappointing turn of events to consider. Last year's Serie A runners up have given up three to Shakhtar.