The Ukrainian side made easy work of their Turkish visitors, as goals from Dario Srna, Olexandr Gladkiy and Alex Teixeira helped them book a place in the play-off round
Shakhtar Donetsk booked their place in the Champions League play-offs on Wednesday with a 3-0 win over Fenerbahce.The two sides headed into the clash level, having played out a goalless draw in the first leg in Istanbul the week before.
However, Shakhtar made easy work of the visitors in the end, with Olexandr Gladkiy, Dario Srna and Alex Teixeira making the difference in Ukraine to win the tie for Mircea Lucescu's men.
While there was no Robin van Persie in the Fener side, Vitor Pereira's men boasted the likes of Diego, Raul Meireles, Nani, Simon Kjaer and Bruno Alves, but they were second best to their hosts from the beginning.
Indeed, Shakhtar almost took the lead within 40 seconds when Marlos received the ball on the right side, cut into the middle and smashed it towards goal, only to see it hit the side netting.
Fenerbahce's first real chance came 10 minutes into the clash, with Fernandao leaping up to head a cross towards goal, but it went over the bar.
Teixeira then had an opportunity at the other end, finding himself in space in the box but his effort was straight at the goalkeeper.
The deadlock was broken after 25 minutes when a neat passing move saw the ball sent out wide to Dario Srna, who sent a cross into the six yard box for Gladkiy to tap home.
Raul Meireles threatened to tie things up 10 minutes later when a deflected shot bounced in his favour. The midfielder smashied it first time to send it curling towards goal, but it was saved by Andriy Pyatov.
Meireles was at the centre of another Fenerbahce opportunity as his cross found Moussa Sow at the front post, though Pyatov was able to flap the dangerous header out for a corner.
Shakhtar found themselves in trouble in the early stages of the second half as the visitors piled on the pressure. A golden opportunity was opened up when Nani's deadly cross towards the back post was nodded back into the middle from Bruno Alves, but it rolled past Simon Kjaer, who would have needed just a minor touch to level the score.
The job got tougher for the Turkish side, though, as a scuffle broke out on the touchline, leading to coach Vitor Pereira being sent to the stands.
Moments later, Shakhtar had secured their place in the play-off round. Marlos broke through on goal and shrugged off the challenge of Kjaer, rounding goalkeeper Volkan Demirel, who subsequently brought the attacker down. Srna then stepped up and doubled his side's lead from the resulting penalty.
A brilliant counter attack from the hosts saw Teixeira make it 3-0 after 68 minutes. The winger burst down the left side to take on a long Taison pass and slotted into the back of the net.
Taison thought he could increase his side's lead even further with a shot from distance, but had no luck. Then, Fener almost netted a consolation goal 87 minutes in, but Caner Erkin's attempt did not bother Pyatov.
Kjaer's poor performance ended in disaster when he received a second yellow card in injury time, but the game had already been killed off and the referee's whistle shortly afterwards brought an end to a dismal display from the Turkish team.
