Ukraine are well placed to reach the finals of Euro 2016 after beating Slovenia 2-0 Saturday, in a one-sided play-off first leg in the western Ukrainian city Lviv. The game was preceded by a minute's silence in honour of the victims of Friday's appalling terrorist attacks in Paris. In front of an impassioned 35,000 capacity crowd, which featured Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, the impressive hosts were in the driving seat from start to finish and would have won by a greater margin had it not been for a string of fine saves from Slovenia keeper Samir Handanovic. Andriy Yarmolenko opened the scoring in the 23rd minute with a clever dribble followed by precise low drive from the right, after the sluggish Slovenia defence had twice failed to clear a corner. And in the 54th minute Yevhen Seleznyov made it 2-0 by turning in a clever centre from right-back Artem Fedetskiy, following more good work from man-of-the-match Yarmolenko down the right. This second goal left Slovenia with a veritable mountain to climb in the second leg Tuesday.
