The hosts made an electric start, taking the lead after just three minutes through Arbnor Muja, who dipped past one tackle and curled into the far corner from inside the box after a cheap turnover of possession.
The forward then sent a fizzing volley from the edge of the area narrowly over the bar, while Vincent Janssen fired just wide from a similar distance as the pace with which the Belgian side moved the ball saw them cause no end of problems.
It took until midway through the half for Shahktar to work their way into the game, and they should have equalised when Mykola Matvienko clipped wide from inside the six-yard box.
They soon found themselves 2-0 down though as Michel-Ange Balikwisha deservedly doubled the lead by running onto Arthur Vermeeren’s through ball and confidently stroking past goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk.
Patrick van Leeuwen likely gave his side an earful at the break, as they pulled one back minutes after the restart following a manic 10 seconds of action.
Heorhiy Sudakov initially hit the post with a fierce strike, which bounced out to Yehor Nazaryna, and although his effort was saved, Sikan met the rebound to find the back of the net.
Antwerp were stunned and spent much of the following minutes on the back foot as they struggled to regain control of the game.
Vermeeren did break forward and have one low effort stopped, but that was against the tide as the visitors equalised through Yaroslav Rakitskyi’s free-kick which took a heavy deflection off Balikwisha and wrong-footed Jean Butez.
It was Shakhtar’s game to lose from there, and a clanger from Butez gifted them a third when he desperately and needlessly kept the ball in play, only to palm straight to Nazaryna, who crossed for Sikan to volley home.
The result means Antwerp, who had a late Toby Alderweireld free-kick saved, are left waiting for their first Champions League victory, while the Miners end their six-game winless run in the competition.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Danylo Sikan (Shakhtar Donetsk)
