Shakhtar Donetsk scored two goals in six minutes to turn around a 1-0 deficit and beat Greek side AEK Athens 3-1 in front of an attendance of 29,144 at Stamford Bridge on matchday two of the UEFA Champions League league phase.

It was the Ukrainian side’s first Champions League win since January 2025, when they beat Stade Brestois 2-0.

Story of the match

The AEK fans were thunderous before kick-off, and the visitors almost made a perfect start in West London three minutes in as Harold Moukoudi’s free header crashed off the middle of the post.

Shakhtar survived the early scare and nearly broke the deadlock just shy of the 10th minute, with a brilliant piece of individual skill from Alisson Santana.

It gave the Brazilian time and space to cut inside and curl a stinging effort towards the left corner, which Alberto Brignoli pushed away.

Majer gives AEK the advantage in West London

(Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP via Getty Images)

After a lull in the early stages, AEK Athens struck first at Stamford Bridge. Stavros Pilios drifted into the box before it bobbled to Lovro Majer, who fired into the bottom right corner in the 28th minute.

Shakhtar hit back from the penalty spot

Within minutes, though, Shakhtar believed they should have had a penalty after Santana looked to have been wiped out by Filipe Relvas. Chris Kavanagh did not award the penalty on the field, but after a somewhat long VAR review, a spot kick was awarded.

Pedrinho stepped up and buried his penalty into the bottom corner to level for the Ukrainians at Stamford Bridge. It was the seventh Champions League game in a row in which Shakhtar Donetsk had scored.

Henrique almost had the hosts in front immediately with his supposed cross catching out Brignoli, as only the crossbar saved the veteran Italian.

Răzvan Marin thought he’d restored AEK Athens’ lead nine minutes into the second half when his free kick looked destined for the top corner, only for Dmytro Riznyk to tip the ball over the crossbar.

There had been nine shots in the opening 20 minutes of the second half, though Marin’s free kick was the closest either side came to taking the lead in that period of the game. It was also the other in a pair of shots on target, which had both come from AEK.

The stop-start nature of the second half wasn’t helping the possibility of another goal; the first half had only seen a total of eight fouls while there were over triple that amount in the second half (25).

Brignoli own goal gives Shakhtar the lead

Eventually the goal did come, and it was Shakhtar who found it with 10 minutes to go.

Vinícius Tobias' cross from the right-hand side fizzed across the box and flew in off Brignoli and into the roof of the net, which silenced the AEK Athens fans that had been loud for the entirety of the game, while Arda Turan, now the manager of Shakhtar Donetsk, embraced his coaching staff.

Mendoza’s mesmerising strike secures Shakhtar’s first win

Shakhtar sealed their first win of the Champions League season six minutes later, and what a goal it was from Gleiker Mendoza. The Venezuelan, who scored in the hosts' 1-1 draw with PSV Eindhoven, cut inside and curled a stunner into the top right-hand corner before knee-sliding right in front of the AEK fans.

The visitors almost had a lifeline early in added time as an effort rattled the top of the crossbar.

What it means

In the end, though, Shakhtar began life in their temporary European home with a win, and even though chances had been very few and far between for Turan’s side for the majority of the evening, they would head to the San Siro to face Inter with four points from their opening two games, and in a strong position for the remainder of the competition.

AEK Athens will face Manchester City, who also tasted defeat on matchday two, losing to PSG 4-2 at the Etihad.