Bayern were held in a drab 0-0 stalemate in their last 16 first leg, as they were reduced to 10 men when ex-Spain and Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso, 33, was sent off in his 100th Champions league game.

The last night's match was played in Lviv, in western Ukraine, because Shakhtar's own Donbass Arena has been twice damaged during the conflict, centred around the mining area of Donetsk, in the east of the country. Lviv is several hundred miles away from Shakhtar's home Donetsk.

Donetsk also have not played a competitive game since December, as they are currently in their winter break, one of the longest winter breaks in all of the European leagues.

Led by their Romanian manager, Mircea Lucescu, since 2004, Shakhtar are champions of the Ukrainian Premier League and are currently second to Dynamo Kiev. They boasted the tournament's top goalscorer Adriano, 27, who had scored nine goals in the competition so far.

Shakhtar faced a Bayern side, who hammered Hamburg 8-0 at the weekend, but ended the night having restricted the visitors to a few chances. Pep Guardiola's team had a few opportunities earlier in the match; Thomas Muller, 25, had a glorious chance to score from 10 yards, after 30 minutes, but fired his shot wide when he went clean through just before the break.

This was a match where emotions boiled over in the second half, and fouls disrupted the flow of the game.

Both teams shared 35 fouls and six yellow cards in addition to Alonso's red card, as both sides committed tactical fouls when danger looked likely. Xabi Alonso was already booked in the first half, when he was red carded and sent-off in the 65th minute. The Ukrainians failed to make their one man's advantage count, as both sides settled for a point.

The two teams will meet in three weeks' time in Munich, where Bayern Munich have not lost a match since defeat to Real Madrid in the semi-finals of last year's competition. Shakhtar maintain their chances of reaching the Champions League quarter-finals for the second time.