Shakhtar Donetsk v Real Madrid | Preview
The current UCL holders, Real Madrid will set themselves up to continue their perfect win record in the Champions League as they visit Poland to face Shakhtar Donetsk in Matchday 4 of the top-flight European competition.
Both sides involved will face other only one week later of their previous matchup — which ended in a 2-1 victory for Real Madrid. In their defeat at the Bernabeu, Shakhtar showed tremendous character after conceding early and kept the scoreline respectable after last season’s debacle.
Real Madrid currently sits at the top spot in Group F of the Champions League with 9 points while Shakhtar secure second place with 4 points.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side will secure their qualification for the knockout stages if they come away with a win against the Ukrainian giants.
Team News
Shakhtar manager Igor Jovicevic is expected to name an unchanged eleven as his team has not been in action after their defeat at the Bernabeu.
Viktor Kornienko is the Ukrainian outfit’s only player to be out of this match with a long-term injury. Mykhailo Mudryk, Taras Stepanenko and the goalscorer in the last matchup between the two sides, Oleksandr Zubkov are expected to retain their places in the starting lineup.
Meanwhile, for Real Madrid, Karim Benzema got his much-needed rest to fully recover from a slight injury in Real’s last match against Getafe.
Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois is set to be out of this fixture with Sciatica.
Dani Ceballos faces a long-term injury surrounding his hamstring.
Predicted Lineups:
Shakhtar Donetsk: Trubin; Taylor, Bondar, Matviyenko, Konoplya; Stepanenko; Shved, Bondarenko, Sudakov, Mudryk; Zubkov.
Real Madrid: Lunin; Vazquez, Rudiger, Alaba, Mendy; Camavinga, Tchouameni, Kroos; Rodrygo, Benzema, Vinicius.
