Champions League - Sparta Prague 3 Shakhtar Donetsk 2

Sparta Prague survived a late fight back from Shakhar Donetsk who suffered another narrow defeat on their Champions League travels.

The Czech champions did not manage to break down the organised defence of the Ukrainian club until close to the hour mark when Tomas Rosicky scored with a lucky shot which deflected in off goalkeeper Yuri Virt.

Shakhtar recovered to get back on level terms two minutes later with a great shot from Hennadii Zuboy swept in a curling shot from the edge of the penalty area into the top corner of the net.

A 73rd minute header from Michal Hornak put Sparta back into the lead from a Labant corner and Shakhtar fell for the same trick in the 82nd minute with Jiri Jarosik scoring with the decisive touch.

The 84th minute brought some consolation for Shakhtar when substitute Vitali Abramov scored with a low drive but the visiting team could not manage anything else on target as they went down to their third defeat.