Shakhtar stun Barca with deserved triumph

Barcelona slumped to a 1-0 defeat by Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday, spurning the chance to seal early qualification to the Champions League knock-out stages.

Danylo Sikan's dipping header in the 40th minute secured Shakhtar a famous victory as Xavi Hernandez's flat Spanish champions failed to trouble their Ukrainian opponents.

Barcelona still lead Group H ahead of Porto, second, hosting Royal Antwerp later on, with the Portuguese side able to pull alongside the Catalans on nine points with victory.

After failing to progress from the group stage for two seasons running, Barcelona saw this clash as an opportunity to get the job done with two games to spare.

However Shakhtar, playing their home games in Hamburg because of Ukraine's war with Russia, held their own from the start.

Barcelona missed big chances in the first match in October but this time Marino Pusic's team shut down their uninspired visitors, who produced just one shot on target.

Xavi insisted his team's performance in the narrow 1-0 league win over Real Sociedad on Saturday was unacceptable, despite the good result, but his team did not heed the coach's words.

Shakhtar forced Marc-Andre ter Stegen into the first save of the game, with the German goalkeeper denying Mykola Matviienko at the near post after he got in behind Joao Cancelo.

Ilkay Gundogan and Raphinha lashed over from distance as Barca created no danger, with striker Robert Lewandowski woefully disconnected on his return to Germany.

The hosts took the lead a few minutes before half-time, easily slicing the visitors open when Giorgi Gocholeishvili took advantage of Barcelona left-back Marcos Alonso being a long way out of position.