A brilliant performance in the second half by AC Milan saw the Italian club emerge comfortable victors in their Champions League clash against Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday.

Filippo Inzaghi came off the bench to score two goals, separated by Kaka's strike to push Milan closer to clinching qualification to the knockout stages from a tough Group G. Milan now has nine points from four matches, three more than Shakhtar and Celtic with just two games to go.

Though Mila looked more likely of the two teams to break the deadlock in the first half, Shakhtar created a number of chances through Brandao, Jadson, Willian and Fernandinho but were unable to beat Dida in the Milan goal.

The inability of the Shakhtar Donetsk strikers to convert their chances proved costly for the team in the 66th minute when Inzaghi, who had replaced Alberto Gilardino in the 63rd minute, showed that he has not lost any of his striker's guile by latching on to Andrea Pirlo's through ball to slot home past Andriy Pyatov to give Milan the lead.

Six minutes later Inzaghi turned creator as he slid the ball through for Kaka and the Brazilian midfielder made no mistake in doubling the lead for Milan. Inzaghi then completed the proceedings with his second goal of the game in injury time when he latched on to Kaka's pass to prod the ball into the net from close range.