Lucescu delight at Shakhtar victory

Mircea Lucescu paid tribute to his Shakhtar Donetsk players after their 3-2 victory away to Roma in the Champions League knockout stages.

Simone Perrotta gave hosts Roma the lead in the 28th minute at the Stadio Olimpico, but goals from Brazilian trio Jadson, Douglas Costa and Luiz Adriano put the visitors in command.

France international Jeremy Menez pulled one back for Roma, but it is the Ukrainian side who will hold the advantage ahead of the return fixture at the Donbass Arena on March 8.

“The result is great and we deserved it,” Lucescu said.

“We were lucky Roma were so nervous. Fans can only imagine how difficult it was on the pitch, but we’re a highly organised team and fast on the counterattack.”

“I knew the level of my players and I was completely confident they would give their all to achieve this result. This is how we repay our fans and our president.”

“We should attack at home because Roma will also go forward. They will probably play a different game, hit us on the counterattack, but in any case they’re a very strong side.”

Roma coach Claudio Ranieri was left to rue his team’s lapse in concentration immediately after taking the lead.

“We started very well; we were doing everything we had too in the early stages,” Ranieri said.

“We knew they could be dangerous on the counterattack because their players have pace and technique. Then we scored, but 45 seconds later they equalised.”

“Small things like this can turn games around. We played well tactically, but we should have been more careful immediately after taking the lead. Then (Douglas) Costa scored a great goal, while the third was just unfortunate.”

“We have to accept the result but I’m satisfied with my players, especially in the second half because they reacted and tried to come back from 3-1 down, a result which could have left us on our knees.”

“We weren’t lucky tonight but we won’t give up because it could be the other way around in Ukraine.”