Shakhtar Donetsk hosts Feyenoord

Shakhtar Donetsk hosts Feyenoord in a match from Group F of the UEFA Champions League.

Shakhtar are currently 2nd in the group with 6 points won so far – that’s with 3 points more than the 3rd Napoli and 3 points less than the leader Manchester City. Excluding the loss against City, Shakhtar is flawless in this group so far, beating Napoli and Feyenoord.

Just two weeks ago these two sides met for the first time. Although the game was played in Rotterdam, Shakhtar managed to clinch the win with a 2-1 result. For Feyenoord, this was a third consecutive loss in the competition. The Dutch champion is the obvious outsider in the group, being the last 4th place with zero points won so far.

Bernard was the big hero for Shakhtar in Rotterdam. The Brazilian midfielder scored both goals for the away team, while Steven Berghuis scored the opening goal for Feyenoord. Although they won the title in the Eredivisie last season, now Feyenoord are proving that they are just not ready to be competitive in the Champions League. They still miss the quality they need to compete with the best teams in Europe and we can all see this at the moment.

So far Shakhtar is perfect at home in the Champions League – one win from one game. They beat Napoli in the first round of the group stage and now they will try to do the same against Feyenoord. In Donetsk they all know that three points against the Dutch team would be very important in their quest of reaching the 1/8-finals of the Champions League.

As for Feyenoord, they still have a theoretical chance for something more in this group, but they really need to start playing better, if they want to achieve something significant.