Now one can be offended at the French referee Eric Poulat, who awarded a free kick 14 meters from the goal for time-wasting by Lashtuvka when kicking the ball out, one can say that the same referee could have not sent off two "Shakhtar" players, but the wards of Mircea Lucescu themselves gave the "man in black" grounds for these infractions. Both infractions that became the cause of the red cards cannot be called contrived, although it is another matter that the referee could have interpreted them differently.

The return duel with "Celtic" for "Shakhtar" was supposed to answer two questions. First, would "Shakhtar" be able to continue the fight in the Champions League? Sad as it is, the miners have practically no chances of reaching the spring stage, or rather there are, but they are rather theoretical. This can be predicted already now.

In order to take second place, "Shakhtar" needs to win in the two remaining matches against "Milan" and "Barcelona" and hope that one of these clubs loses its two last games.

As for the other question, namely whether the team from Donetsk will continue the fight, at least in the UEFA Cup, the Ukrainian fans also did not receive a clear answer. Even after the loss in Glasgow the miners remained in third position, although the whole fight is still ahead.

As for the game itself, for "Shakhtar" it can be divided into two stages. The first – before the conceded goal, and the second after Tymoshchuk's sending-off. After the goal into their own net "Shakhtar" was in a knockdown, and Tymoshchuk's sending-off knocked the team out.

In the first 25 minutes the guests from Donetsk looked quite decent on the field in Glasgow and tried to counterattack at every opportunity. True, the first dangerous moment in the 5th minute of the game was created by the Scots. After a corner kick Valgaeren headed at goal, but Lashtuvka found himself in the right place at that moment.

The Donetsk side "bared their teeth" in the 11th minute. Lucescu's wards succeeded in a quick counterattack during which Agahowa passed to Matuzalem, who from about 20 meters shot into the corner of the goal, but the "Celtic" goalkeeper parried this shot. Let us note that as soon as "Shakhtar" succeeded in quick counterattacks, the "Celtic" defense was torn to shreds. The speedy Agahowa and Vorobey constantly ran away from their markers, only the matter did not always reach dangerous moments. Already in the 15th minute Stiliyan Petrov struck with a "scissors" kick, but the leather ball whistled past the post.

On the whole, "Shakhtar" coped with its first task in the first 20 minutes. The team did not allow a goal and blunted the attacking impulse of the hosts, who before the game intended to score precisely in the first 15 minutes of the game. But "Celtic" fulfilled its plan in 10 minutes. After one of the attacks Lashtuvka did not want to part with the ball for a long time and the French stickler with the whistle awarded a free kick about 14 meters out centrally from "Shakhtar's" goal for time-wasting by Lashtuvka. The guests did not miss their chance to score. Petrov played the ball with Thompson, and the latter with a powerful shot into the corner of "Shakhtar's" goal beat both the wall of players from Donetsk and Lashtuvka himself – 1:0.

As for the topic of refereeing, the arbiter was still more favorable to the hosts and not only because thanks to his decision "Shakhtar" conceded. The whole matter is that the referee from France did not always notice rule violations on the part of the hosts and tried to whistle only against the miners. In the 43rd minute after a mistake by the central defenders Camara raced one-on-one to meet Lashtuvka, but on the line of the penalty area Tymoshchuk caught up with him and felled the "Celtic" player onto the turf. Eric Poulat, after a pause following the attack by the "Shakhtar" players defending their captain, showed Anatoliy the red card, qualifying this moment as a foul of last resort. Could the referee have not given Tymoshchuk a red card right away? He could have, but decided otherwise, although that is his right. By the way, in one of the earlier moments Tymoshchuk went in with his legs from behind on Varga, but did not receive a caution, although the French referee remembered everything to him later...

After Tymoshchuk finished his battle at "Celtic Park" stadium it became clear that winning against "Celtic" would be much harder. The start of the second half did not show particular activity of the teams near either penalty area. Memorable in the 57th minute were the shots of Hartson and Petrov, which Lashtuvka managed to neutralize.

In the 58th minute all of "Shakhtar's" dreams of a positive result were shattered by Berkeuan. The Romanian, who had already received a caution for talking to the referee, stopped Petrov with a rule violation as he was bursting toward "Shakhtar's" penalty area. Poulat this time too did not think long and showed the Romanian a second "yellow" card, which instantly turned into a "red" one with the subsequent procedure of leaving the field. With 9 men "Shakhtar" also tried to come up with something in attack, but until the end of the match only Vorobey shot more or less dangerously, after whose shot the ball went not far from the post, and Lewandowski headed the "ball" on, however the "Celtic" goalkeeper played reliably.

Awaiting the final whistle, the teams were already finishing the game. "Shakhtar's" main task after the two sendings-off was not to concede more than "Celtic" did in Donetsk, and they coped with this. Banally as it may sound, but the current "Celtic" does not deserve to get ahead of "Shakhtar" in the fight for a ticket to the UEFA Cup and it will be very unfair if the team from Donetsk ends its fight already in the autumn.

Group F

"Celtic" (Scotland) - "Shakhtar" (Ukraine) - 1:0 Goal: Thompson 25 Sendings-off: Anatoliy Tymoshchuk 43, Cosmin Berkeuan 58 (both "Shakhtar") Celtic: 22. David Marshall, 5. Joos Valgaeren, 23. Stanislav Varga, 4. Jackie McNamara, 8. Alan Thompson, 17. Didier Agathe, 18. Neil Lennon, 19. Stiliyan Petrov, 10. John Hartson, 27. Henri Camara, (37. Craig Beattie 81), 46. Aiden McGeady, (33. Ross Wallace 79) Shakhtar: 16. Jan Lashtuvka, 2. Cosmin Berkeuan, 14. Flavius Stoican, 4. Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, 6. Ihor Duljaj, 9. Matuzalem, 10. Zvonimir Vukic, (3. Tomas Hubschman 60), 18. Mariusz Lewandowski, 33. Darijo Srna, 11. Andriy Vorobey, (7. Joao Batista 74), 17. Julius Agahowa, (29. Ciprian Marica, 68)

Standings: 1. Milan - 9. 2. Barcelona - 9. 3. SHAKHTAR - 3. 4. Celtic - 3.