However, the Ukrainian has now been released from hospital and is travelling back to Ukraine with his teammates, although Shakhtar didn’t reveal whether the player would be available for the return match in Lviv on Tuesday.
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Marlos netted the all-important away goal a minute before the break as Shakhtar edged in front in the UEFA Champions League play-off tie.
The Ukranian side are hoping to make it into the group stages of Europe’s elite club competition for the sixth successive season and gained the upper-hand thanks to Marlos’ first-half strike.
A tough one to call here as Rapid Wien may be massive underdogs against Champions League veterans Shakhtar Donetsk but the Austrian side did take a massive scalp in the last round when they beat Ajax in Ajax to get through to this last qualifying round.
Basel’s Birkir Bjarnason, left, fights for the ball against Maccabi’s Yuval Shpungin, right, during the Champions League play-off round first leg soccer match between Switzerland’s FC Basel 1893 and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv FC in the St. Jakob-Park stadium in Basel, Switzerland, Wednesday, August 19, 2015.
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Defender Yaroslav Rakitskiy set up Marlos in the 44th, and the Brazilian midfielder wrongfooted Rapid defender Stephan Auer before beating goalkeeper Jan Novota with a low diagonal shot. Winger Louis Schaub missed the home team’s best chance when he dribbled past three defenders before sending his shot just wide. “Rapid was physically strong but we dominated the first half”. Apart from Alex Teixeira’s drilled effort across goal on the counter the visitors were happy to soak up pressure and nullify the hosts in the second period, something they did expertly. While we’ve had the Champions League match, in which we couldn’t take any risks, knowing that we still have a home game ahead.
