Metalist Kharkiv converted a late penalty to claim a potentially vital away goal after going down 2-1 away to Sporting Lisbon.
Cleiton penalty leaves Europa League tie in the balance
Metalist Kharkiv converted a late penalty to claim a potentially vital away goal after going down 2-1 away to Sporting Lisbon.
The Portuguese side appeared set to claim a comfortable advantage in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final following goals from Marat Izmailov and Emiliano Insua.
However, Cleiton Xavier gave Metalist hope for the second leg by scoring a last minute spot-kick to leave the tie firmly in the balance ahead of next week's return in the Ukraine.
After a quiet opening, Sporting created the first real opening as defender Xandao fired wide from the edge of the area with 12 minutes on the clock.
The visitors soon got into the contest however and Jonathan Cristaldo's long-range shot was blocked by Anderson Polga before Taison drilled a free-kick wide from even further out.
At the other end, Izmailov saw his shot blocked by Marco Torsiglieri just seconds before Daniel Carrico's shot was comfortably held by Oleksandr Goryainov.
Impressive
It took Sporting just five minutes of the second half to break the deadlock as the impressive Izmailov converted Diego Capel's cross from six yards.
And a minute later it was almost 2-0 as Matias Fernandez saw his long-range free-kick tipped over by Goryainov.
But the home fans among the crowd of 40,512 did not have to wait too long for the second goal, with Insua hammering home a 25-yard drive into the bottom corner in the 64th minute.
To the visitors' credit they refused to throw in the towel and Taison's shot was tipped round the post by Rui Patricio before the goalkeeper was again called into action to block Jose Sosa's 12-yard effort.
But just when it looked like Patricio would be Sporting's hero, the goalkeeper brought down Marko Devic after saving an initial shot from substitute Marlos to concede a penalty.
Patricio was booked for his troubles and was then powerless to prevent Cleiton hammering in the spot-kick to leave the tie finely poised.
