Back in the UCL after a season away, Shakhtar were forced to negotiate a fast start from a PSV side that were buoyed by their recent 3-1 Eredivisie victory over domestic rivals Ajax.
The evergreen Ivan Perisic produced the game’s first shot in anger, sending his fierce volley swerving over the crossbar, and Kodai Sano then tried his luck from distance on his UCL debut, but his driven effort lacked the precision to beat Dmytro Riznyk.
After seeing off PSV’s early threat, the Ukrainian side visibly grew in confidence as the first period wore on, and eventually found the breakthrough in stoppage time, to the frustration of the PSV faithful, who felt Marlon Gomes had fouled Sergino Dest in the build-up.
As Dest remained down in the centre circle, Gleiker Mendoza collected the ball in PSV’s vacated right-back position and cut inside to create the angle for a low curling shot into the far corner.
VAR ruled that Marlon had won the ball before making contact with Dest in his sliding challenge, ensuring Mendoza could celebrate a goal on his UCL debut.
No doubt feeling hard done by, Dest channelled that frustration to level the scoreline within three minutes of the restart, cleverly opening up his body to place the ball past the unmoved goalkeeper after being teed up by Armando Obispo’s inviting cut-back.
With the home faithful buoyed, the hosts threatened to quickly hit the front when Ruben van Bommel sent his driven shot fizzing past Riznyk’s near post.
Yet, the intensity of PSV’s push for a winner waned as the game progressed, and while Arda Turan’s visitors showed late promise with a couple of late half-chances, both sides ultimately had to settle for a share of the spoils.
Shakhtar will probably leave as the happier of the two sides, as Peter Bosz’s charges failed to make full use of home advantage despite stretching their unbeaten run to six matches (W4, D2).
Flashscore Man of the Match: Armando Obispo (PSV)