Soccer-Dortmund beat Shakhtar Donetsk 3-1 to reach Champions League knockout play-offs


Soccer Football - Champions League - Borussia Dortmund v Shakhtar Donetsk - Signal Iduna Park Dortmund Germany - January 29 2025 Borussia Dortmunds Serhou Guirassy scores their second goal REUTERSWolfgang Rattay

Soccer Football - Champions League - Borussia Dortmund v Shakhtar Donetsk - Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany - January 29, 2025 Borussia Dortmund's Serhou Guirassy scores their second goal REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

(Reuters) - Borussia Dortmund cruised into the knockout phase playoffs of the Champions League with a 3-1 home win over Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday, with Guinean striker Serhou Guirassy scoring two first-half goals as the Ukrainian side were eliminated.

With the top eight teams going straight through to the last 16 and those placed from ninth to 24th headed to the two-legged playoffs for the remaining eight spots, beaten 2024 finalists Dortmund finished the league phase in 10th place with 15 points.

Shakhtar were 27th on seven points.

A first victory of 2025 was just the tonic Dortmund needed following a poor run of form that saw coach Nuri Sahin fired a week ago, with his replacement Mike Tullberg plucked from the club's U19 side to steer them through to the knockout stage.

Guirassy gave his side the lead in the 17th minute, charging into the box and steering Karim Adeyemi’s shot past the keeper with his thigh, and the Guinean striker grabbed his second just before the break, latching on to Julian Brandt’s pass and taking a touch before firing past Dmytro Riznyk.

The 28-year-old almost completed his hat-trick in the first minute of the second half when he got a powerful downward header to a free kick, but Riznyk reacted superbly to steer the ball to safety.

The visitors were thrown a lifeline in the 50th minute when Dortmund keeper Gregor Kobel took a bad touch that allowed Marlon Gomes to pounce and steer the ball into the net to make it 2-1.

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Shakhtar's Riznyk had to be at his best again in the 66th minute, getting a strong hand to Ramy Bensebaini’s header from another free kick to tip it over the bar, and Guirassy had another chance to net his third in the 72nd minute but his chipped effort drifted just wide of the near post.

Any hope the visitors had was extinguished when Dortmund's Ramy Bensebaini scored with a cool chipped effort in the 79th minute to wrap up the three points for the hosts and end Shakhtar's European adventure for this season.

With the draw for the knockout playoffs taking place on Friday, Dortmund will face either Club Brugge of Belgium or Portuguese side Sporting and victory there would set them up for a meeting with Lille of France or English side Aston Villa.

(This story has been corrected to fix the possible last 16 opponents from Lyon to Lille in paragraph 10)

(Reporting by Philip O'Connor; editing by Clare Fallon)

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