Mircea Lucescu commented that Real Sociedad had initial control on Wednesday night, before Shakhtar Donetsk ‘surprised them’.
The Ukrainians ran out convincing 4-0 winners at the Donbass Arena to end the Spaniards’ ambitions of finishing any higher than last in Group A of the Champions League.
“As we expected, the game was hard, especially in the first half,” Lucescu considered afterwards, though.
“In the first 15 minutes they had the advantage as they totally controlled the ball. I think we surprised them with some fast and clever play after the corner that led to Luiz Adriano's goal.
“At the end of the first half they put lots of pressure on our defence. They had some good opportunities and I must admit we were lucky as they failed to take their chances.
“The key moment was Alex Teixeira's goal, when we pressed successfully. Once it became 2-0, Real understood they wouldn't get anything here.
“We controlled the ball well, put together a lot of combinations, but the outcome was practically settled.
“Real started to play open football, which enabled us to utilise our counterattacks, so the last part of the game was quite simple for my players.
“I wouldn't compare this game with the matches against Manchester United and Leverkusen, because in those games our opponents were using the tactics they wanted for 90 minutes, while Real Sociedad were forced to go forward.
“Now we have two weeks to prepare for the game at Old Trafford. We have only one option – we need to defeat Manchester United. We will do everything possible to achieve this.”
