Bernard Brace Leads Shakhtar Over Feyenoord

Bernard scored twice in leading 10-man Shakhtar Donetsk past Feyenoord 2-1 and solidifying the Ukrainian team's grip on second place in Group F of the Champions League on Tuesday.

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) Bernard scored twice in leading 10-man Shakhtar Donetsk past Feyenoord 2-1 and solidifying the Ukrainian team's grip on second place in Group F of the Champions League on Tuesday.

Shakhtar's second group stage win left Feyenoord without a point following three straight defeats. Manchester City stayed on top after beating Napoli 2-1.

Bernard netted in the 24th and 54th minutes to cancel out a seventh-minute strike by Steven Berghuis.

Feyenoord started strongly at a sold-out De Kuip Stadium and Berghuis gave his team a deserved lead when he headed home a rebound after Andriy Pyatov parried Jean-Paul Boetius' swerving shot.

But Feyenoord eased off after scoring, allowing Shakhtar into the match.

Bernard equalized in the 24th after running onto a perfectly weighted pass by midfielder Fred and rounding goalkeeper Brad Jones before calmly slotting the ball into the empty net.

Feyenoord again started strongly in the second half and Pyatov twice had to sprint off his line to deny Nicolai Jorgensen and Sofyan Amrabat.

But while Feyenoord couldn't capitalize on its chances, Shakhtar was clinical, with Bernard appearing unmarked at the far post to give his team the lead with a powerful header.

Shakhtar was reduced to 10 men with 15 minutes to go when Yaroslav Rakitskiy was sent off for his second yellow card for a foul on substitute Jens Toornstra.

Substitute Michiel Kramer came close to equalizing in extra time, but Pyatov pulled off another good save to block his header.

''We can look back on a good match, but we still finished empty handed,'' Feyenoord captain Karim El Ahmadi told Dutch television network Veronica.