Fenerbahçe crashed out of the Champions League playoff stages following a 3-0 defeat against Shakhtar Donetsk at the Lviv stadium.
Vitor Pereira left former Manchester United star Robin van Persie out of the squad due to lacking match fitness but he started Luis Nani on the right flank.
Fenerbahçe signed eight players over the summer while parting ways with nine long-term veterans so the team did not have long to settle. However, despite having an additional week to gel the Yellow Canaries looked more disjointed than in the first leg.
Diego Ribas and Nani were Fenerbahçe’s most frequent passing combination and pulled the strings in the final third but the duo only managed one pass between them in the opening 45 minutes.
Oleksandr Gladkiy put the home side ahead in the first half when he turned in Darijo Srna’s near-post cross to give the Ukrainian side an early advantage going into the break.
//vine.co/v/eHLAMqea2eL
Fenerbahçe got off to a bright start in the second half. Raul Meireles and Bruno Alves almost got their name on the scoresheet within the first 10 minutes of the restart but it was the home side that struck again.
Srna doubled Shakhtar’s lead from the penalty sport following Volkan Demirel bringing down Marlos inside the penalty area and Alex Teixeira booked a place in the final play-off stages when he scored minutes later on the break.
Simon Kjaer made a bad evening worse when he was sent off in stoppage time to join manager Pereira who was giving his marching orders earlier for having an altercation with Fred.
Fenerbahçe will enter the Europa League qualification stages following their exit from the competition.
SHAKHTAR-FENEBAHÇE
Stadium: Arena Lviv
Referee: Felix Zwayer
Kick-Off: 19:45 GMT
SHAKHTAR DONETSK: Pyatov, Srna, Ordets, Kucher, Azavedo, Stepanenko, Malyshev, Taison, Alex Teixeira, Marlos, Gladkiy
Manager: Mircea Lucescu
FENERBAHÇE: Volkan, Şener, Alves, Kjaer, Caner, Meireles, Josef, Nani, Diego, Sow, Fernandao
Manager: Vitor Pereira
Goals: Oleksandr Gladkiy, Srna, Alex
See More
Galatasaray set €15 million price tag on Chelsea target
€13m Sunderland bid for Fenerbahce striker rejected