On March 9, Stadion Wojska Polskiego (Warsaw) will host the 1/8 final match of the Europa League, in which Shakhtar Donetsk will compete with Feyenoord. The battle will start at 21:00 CET.
Shakhtar Donetsk
The team, taking into account the calendar year, was forced to replace more than a half of its squad. Moreover, it has got a new mentor, Igor Jovicevic. It is clear that the departure of such a great number of experienced legionnaires could not pass unnoticed. Still, the paradox is that this younger and no longer Brazilian version of “the Orange and Blacks” turned out to be more successful in European competitions. In 2021, being under the rule of De Zerbi, the team ingloriously occupied the last place in the Champions League group, losing even to Sheriff. Speaking about the previous autumn, it managed to beat RB Leipzig, had got two 1-1 draws in the matches with Celtic and was close to beat Real Madrid. And in February, playing already in the Europa League and without Mudryk, the club overcame Rennes. It goes without saying that the higher mentioned result happened not without luck – the team was able to survive until the penalty shoot-out in France thanks to an own goal in the 119th minute of the game. Nevertheless, there was a good match in Warsaw, especially in its first half, and in general, Shakhtar was at least as good as the opponent.
Feyenoord
The club is finally close to success in the Eredivisie this season. It goes without saying that it can be called as a grandee by the standards of the Netherlands, but, speaking about the current century, the team has been able to take the gold medals only once – that happened in 2017. Nowadays, Arne Slot and his wards are among the leaders of the championship, which, however, is followed by the synchronous decline of the traditional competitors, PSV and even Ajax. At the same time, being the third in the previous season, the representative of Rotterdam took a direct ticket to the Europa League. As a result, there appeared a unique quartet. Each team, including the Dutch one, Lazio, Sturm and Midtjylland, got eight points there. Everything depended on additional indicators, and according to them, it was Feyenoord that led the group and went straight to the 1/8 stage.
The statistics of head-to-head matches
The opponents played in the Champions League group in 2017. Then, Shakhtar turned out to be stronger in both matches – an away 2-1 victory and a home 3-1 success.
Predictions
Bookmakers give Feyenoord a slight advantage even in Warsaw. Still, Shakhtar has already proved its combat capacity, thus, we will choose a neutral bet “total: over 2.5” (odds: 1.84).