UEFA Champions League: Shakhtar draws with Inter, both lose to COVID-19
Josh McNally
Romelu Lukaku (C) of Inter Milan reacts after missing a goal opportunity in the UEFA Champions League Group B game against Shakhtar Donetsk at the NSC Olimpyskiy Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine, October 27, 2020. /AP

Romelu Lukaku (C) of Inter Milan reacts after missing a goal opportunity in the UEFA Champions League Group B game against Shakhtar Donetsk at the NSC Olimpyskiy Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine, October 27, 2020. /AP

Last season was supposed to be the funny one. As the coronavirus pandemic hit in the middle of the Champions League tournament, all latter stage results were considered tainted. However, COVID-19 hasn't gone away, rather it has spread throughout all of Europe's sports leagues. It may not be at the point yet where the whole competition should be cancelled but, in the record books, several teams should have an asterisk next to their name to explain their performances.

Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk is one of them. Eight of their starting squad are unavailable due to COVID-19 related issues so were swapped out for reserves; this worked a treat when the side shocked Real Madrid 3-2 last week so manager Luis Castro used the same squad with the aim of getting the same results this week against Inter Milan. On one hand, they ended up playing to a drab 0-0 draw, on the other, that's a significantly better result than their last game versus Inter Milan: a 5-0 loss.

What quickly became clear at the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium is that their away success against Madrid was partly through Los Blancos' hubris and mostly through the element of surprise. Besides for feeling a team of players unknown to most of the world, as with a lot of oligarch-backed sides outside of the main footballing nations, Shakhtar are split almost equally between domestic players who were blooded at local academies and imported Brazilians and that creates an energetic side that can hit fast and hard, unsettling rivals early.

Dentinho of Shakhtar Donetsk leaves the pitch injured in the UEFA Champions League Group B game against Inter Milan at the NSC Olimpyskiy Stadium, October 27, 2020. /AP

Dentinho of Shakhtar Donetsk leaves the pitch injured in the UEFA Champions League Group B game against Inter Milan at the NSC Olimpyskiy Stadium, October 27, 2020. /AP

Shakhtar were set up in a 4-1-4-1 formation with the aim of having the front midfielders and wingers Tete, Marlos, Marcos Antonio and Manor Solomon bomb up the pitch and overwhelm Inter's defense. Not only had Inter Milan Manager Antonio Conte planned for this by essentially creating two lines of defense in his 3-5-1 formation, within 15 minutes, Shakhtar's lone striker Dentinho was taken off with an injury and replaced with Taison.

The Ukrainian side simply kept running into dead ends. Their youth and relative inexperience as a team showed through as they fell for the same mistakes over and over and rarely seemed to consider involving their teammates. 20-year-old Antonio quite often ran directly forwards, found himself double- or triple-teamed by Nicolo Barella, Achraf Hakimi and/or Danilo D'Ambrosio, and then turned and ran the other way instead of trying to pass to someone else.

This lack of creativity is excusable for a squad as ramshackle as Shakhtar, it is not for Inter Milan. For at least an hour of the 90-minute game, the Italians were firmly in control but they too repeatedly squandered their chances in the exact same way over and over again.

Anatoliy Trubin (L), goalkeeper of Shakhtar Donetsk, denies a shot by Romelu Lukaku of Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League Group B game at the NSC Olimpyskiy Stadium, October 27, 2020. /AP

Anatoliy Trubin (L), goalkeeper of Shakhtar Donetsk, denies a shot by Romelu Lukaku of Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League Group B game at the NSC Olimpyskiy Stadium, October 27, 2020. /AP

Inter have repeatedly struggled in Europe and their inability to crack this Shakhtar team does a lot to explain why. Conte may not be as bereft of ideas as Paris Saint-Germain's Thomas Tuchel – his whiteboard in the home dressing room probably only says "get the ball to Neymar" in a variety of languages – but he isn't far off. Inter either tried to spring the offside trap from midfielders providing lob passes or they tried to spring the offside trap from quick crosses fired in by their wingers.

Shakhtar, already topping Group B thanks to their shock win over Real Madrid, were more than willing to hunker down and cut off Inter's danger men Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez. With round 20 minutes left, the game opened up and Inter stopped lining up most of their team against Shakhtar's defenders. If anything, it made them look even worse and far too over reliant on Lukaku, a mercurial player at the very best of times.

Of course, Inter are also dealing with their own COVID-19 problems right now. The difference is that Shakhtar had to dip into the youth side to ensure they had a full 11 for matchday 2, a weakened Inter is still able to field players such as the aforementioned Lukaku and Martinez as well as Arturo Vidal, Marcelo Brozovic, Stefan de Vrij and many others who have competed at the highest levels of domestic, European club and international football. They shouldn't be this one dimensional ever, never mind when they are in a Champions League group with Shakhtar Donetsk, Real Madrid, Borussia Monchengladbach and it is all for grabs.