Barcelona secured their third consecutive win in the Champions League group stage with a tense 2-1 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk. The result of the match played at the Olympic Stadium, places the Catalans in the position of reaching the knockout stages of the competition. Barcelona boss Xavi Hernandez made only three changes from the squad that recently defeated Athletic Club. The tactical adjustment saw Ronald Araujo, Marcos Alonso, and Lamine Yamal replacing Andreas Christensen, Alejandro Balde, and Gavi.
Ferran Torres after his goal – credit – Fabrizio Romano on X Despite the changes, Ferran Torres retained his spot in the lineup and played a vital role in the match. Torres opened the scoring in the 30th minute, capitalizing on Fermin Lopez’s ball that hit the woodwork, leaving Torres with an easy tap-in. Although the goal was initially ruled offside, but a check by VAR corrected the decision, awarding Barcelona the goal. Moments later, Torres set up Lopez who extended the lead to 2-0 with a long-range strike, marking his first Champions League goal on his debut start in the competition. Despite Barcelona’s initial comfort, Shakhtar Donetsk pulled one back on the 62nd minute through Georgiy Sudakov. Nonetheless, Barcelona held their ground, picking all three points, and maintaining their position at the top of Group H.
Shakhtar Donetsk has announced that they will be using £20.5 million from the sale of Mykhaylo Mudryk to Chelsea, to fund Ukrainian soldiers and their families who have been affected by the war with Russia. 22-year-old Mudryk signed an eight-and-a-half-year deal worth €100 million with Chelsea. The deal includes an initial fee of 70 million euros and 30 million euros in performance-related add-ons. In an official statement on the club’s website, Shakhtar Donetsk President Rinat Akhmetov said they will be using £20.5 million from the deal to help those who have been affected by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. It read; “‘FC Shakhtar has signed a final agreement with Chelsea FC and thus Ukrainian footballer Mykhaylo Mudryk will continue his career with the Blues in the strongest national championship, the English Premier League. 
“First and foremost, I want to thank the entire civilised world for helping Ukraine. Today we are able to talk about Ukrainian football thanks to the Ukrainian army, the Ukrainian people, and the tremendous support of the entire civilised world. “Only by joining efforts we will defeat the evil that has come to our homes. “I have never made it a secret that my dream is to win European trophies. This means that players like Mudryk should be invited to our club, to our Ukrainian championship, and we should win European trophies with such players, rather than root for them, even when they play in the world’s top clubs. “Unfortunately, it is impossible now, as Ukraine is fighting the horrendous and unjust war waged against us by the Russian Federation. But I am confident that we will win. And we will play a friendly against Chelsea at Donbass Arena in a Ukrainian Donetsk. 
“That is why I have made a decision to launch the Heart of Azovstal, a project designed to help Mariupol defenders and the families of fallen soldiers. Their acts of bravery are unparalleled in the modern history. “I am allocating $25 million [£20.5m] today to help our soldiers, defenders, and their families. The money will be used to cover different needs — from providing medical and prosthetic treatment and psychological support to meeting specific requests. “To ensure transparency, the project will have a professional independent team that will be in touch with the Azovstal defenders, their families, care providers, and volunteers.” As well as the money from the sale, Shakhtar will also play a friendly against Chelsea at the Donbass Arena sometime in the future. The Ukrainian side haven’t been able to play at their actual home ground since 2014 because of the war in the Donbass area of the country which began before the full invasion by Russia last year.