Shakhtar Donetsk eliminate Schalke 3-0

Shakhtar Donetsk reaped a 3-0 win at Schalke in the second leg of UEFA Europa League's last 32 on Thursday.

The Ukrainian outfit staged a faultless performance on the road thanks to goals by Marlos, Facundo Ferreyra and youngster Viktor Kovalenko. Schalke remained harmless for most of the time and got caught flatfooted twice on fast breaks.

After the goalless draw in the first leg at Donetsk, Schalke tried hard to control the proceedings from the kick off on home soil.

Schalke came close to open the scoring in the opening period as Johannes Geis rattled the inside of the right post following a free kick before Donetsk custodian Andriy Pyatov had to defuse Younes Belahand's effort on target.

Goals were scored at the other end of the pitch as Shakhtar broke the deadlock against the run of the game at the 27th minute. The visitors benefited on a turnover and completed a fast break through Marlos, who tapped in Ferreyra's square pass with the back heel from very close range.

Schalke weren't able to respond although Leroy Sane and Franco Di Santo had promising opportunities before and after the break respectively.

The visitors continued with their clinical chance conversion as Shakhtar Donetsk's Taison outpaced Schalke defender Joel Matip to tee up for Ferreyra, who had no problems to poke home the 2-0 lead with 63 minutes into the game.

Mircea Lucescu's men weren't done with the scoring because Taison had all time and space in Schalke's territory, allowing Kovalenko to seal the deal and the next round in Europa League with a 3-0 on aggregate.

"I am very disappointed as we had planned something different. The 2-0 deficit took the wind out of our sails," Schalke's coach Andre Breitenreiter said.

The draw of the last 16 takes place in Nyon, Switzerland on Friday. Endit