Shakhtar hammer Sociedad to move into second spot

The hosts moved up to second spot with eight points from five games, one point clear of Bayer Leverkusen heading into the final group game at leaders Manchester United, who qualified by battering the Germans 5-0 away.

(Reuters)

Brazilian striker Luiz Adriano latched onto an incisive pass from compatriot Douglas Costa and flicked the ball into the net from a very sharp angle via the near post after 37 minutes.

Inigo Martinez squandered a clear chance for an equaliser by firing narrowly over the bar two minutes from halftime and things got even worse for the Sociedad midfielder after the break.

Shakhtar doubled their lead three minutes after the restart following a blunder by Martinez, whose clumsy clearance set up Alex Teixeira to rifle straight into the top corner.

Douglas Costa rifled a spectacular shot into the top corner from the edge of the area to make it 3-0 and ended the rout with a header three minutes from time.

The Ukrainian champions will top the group if they win at United on December 10.

Spain's Sociedad, with one point, are now out of Europe altogether.

(Writing by Igor Nitsak; Editing by Mark Meadows; To sign up for our Global Sports Forum chatroom, click on https://forms.thomsonreuters.com/global_sports_forum)