Preview: Shakhtar Donetsk vs. Brest – prediction, team news, lineups

Brest will resume their adventure Champions League campaign when they travel to neutral Gelsenkirchen to meet Shakhtar Donetsk Wednesday evening.

The competition debutants remain unbeaten in Europe this season and are already assured of a place in the knockout round, while Shakhtar need two wins to have any chance of progression.

Match preview

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In what has been nothing short of a miraculous campaign so far, Brest, one of the smallest clubs in the French top flight, have taken the Champions League by storm this season.

Erik Roy‘s men have not even been able to play home games at their usual ground, instead traveling to Guingamp, as their stadium did not meet UEFA’s safety guidelines.

Despite that, Brest is one of six clubs level on 13 points inside the eight bestand one more win should be enough to ensure they finish in an automatic last 16 spot.

Winning is also something the Pirates have become accustomed to in recent weeks, after a somewhat lackluster start domestically, they have now won six of their last seven matches across all competitions, including a 1-0 victory over PSV Eindhoven on matchday six, and two successes in the Coupe de France.

What makes that run even more impressive is the fact that it came on the heels of a run of five defeats in seven games before, and if they can claim another then next week’s clash with Real Madrid could be a possibility to relax and enjoy the moment.

It is the fourth time Brest have met a team currently outside the top 24 in the league stage, having won the other three against Red Bull Salzburg, Sparta Prague and Sturm Graz.

History is also at stake as Brest can become the first French club to win five games in their debut Champions League season since Lyon did it way back in 2000-01.

While Shakhtar Donetsk’s recent form doesn’t offer much for them to get excited about, their record against French clubs is just as worrying, failing to win any of their four Champions League meetings.

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Ukraine’s long winter break won’t do them any favors either, with Shakhtar not playing competitively for over five weeks since losing to Polissya Zhytomyr, which left them 10 points behind league leaders Dynamo Kyiv.

Shakhtar have arranged some friendlies in the meantime, beating Bulgarian giants Ludogorets and CSKA Sofia last week, but this will be a big step up in both class and intensity.

With just four points from their six games so far, Marino Pusics men need two wins to have any chance of breaking into the top 24, but with Borussia Dortmund away on matchday eight, those chances seem slim.

A win over pointless Young Boys remains Shakhtar’s solitary success on the continent so far, while they were also very fortunate to claim a point in Bologna in the first leg, but Pusic will look back on their late collapse at PSV as a turning point when they lost after leading 2–0 with five minutes remaining.

Last time Shakhtar suffered a humiliating 5-1 defeat here against Bayern Munich, it is the ninth time in the Champions League that they have conceded at least five goals in a game – two more than any other club.

Shakhtar Donetsk Champions League form:

Shakhtar Donetsk form (all competitions):

Brest Champions League form:

Brest form (all competitions):

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Having not played a competitive game for over a month, the physical condition of the Shakhtar squad is not clear, but there are no new known injury setbacks that Pusic is facing before this one.

Pedro Henrique is available again after serving a ban against Bayern, but Bartol Franjic has left the club after his loan deal ended at the start of the month.

Maycon has briefly returned to the club after three years on loan at Corinthians following the outbreak of war in Ukraine, but is currently out and unlikely to play for the club again.

On the contrary, Brest are without several first-team players, especially in defence, and this may limit Roy from making as many changes as he has been used to in Europe this season.

Jordan Amavi, Massadio Haidara, Bradley Locke, Soumaila Coulibaly and Julien Le Cardinal are all set to miss out, with the latter not featuring since scoring the winner in their six-game win over PSV.

Jonas Martin‘s muscle injury means he is set to remain out, along with Karamoko Dembelewho himself has doubts about this with a similar problem.

Shakhtar Donetsk possible starting line-up:
Riznyk; Konoplya, Bondar, Matviienko, Pedro Henrique; Marlon Gomes, Bondarenko, Sudakov; Zubkov, Sikan, Kevin

Brest possible starting line-up:
Bizot; Lala, Chardonnet, Ndiaye, Fernandes; Del Castillo, Camara, Magnetti, Doumbia; Ajorque, Sima

We say: Shakhtar Donetsk 1-3 Brest

Only Atalanta, Feyenoord and Liverpool have won more points away from home in the league phase than Brest, so traveling to some of Europe’s elite has not been scary at all, and they will be in an expectant mood in Germany.

Shakhtar have literally been out in the cold for over a month, without any competitive action since mid-December, and they have largely been disappointing in Europe, where the ongoing war has severely affected their ability to act in the transfer market and weakened the squad. year to year.

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