Barcelona v Shakhtar Donetsk – Match Preview: UEFA Champions League
Barcelona resumes their UEFA Champions League campaign as they host Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday, 6th of April 2011 at Nou Camp. The Ukrainian footballing giants will be looking to spring a surprise result in Catalonia on Wednesday night so let us take a look at how both outfits will line up against each other...
Barcelona
With a comfortable lead in La Liga, Barcelona now turn their attention towards the UEFA Champions League. After winning against Villarreal thanks to Gerard Pique’s late strike, Pep Guardiola’s men are now seven points ahead of Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid.
On the European front, Barcelona secured their place in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League after negotiating a tricky round of sixteen tie against Arsenal. After losing at the Emirates stadium, the Catalonian giants battered the Gunners by three goals to one at Nou Camp to claim a knockout tie against Shakhtar. Barcelona’s last win over Shakhtar came in the 2009 UEFA Cup when Guardiola’s outfit defeated the boys from Donetsk by a single to nil.
Shakhtar Donetsk
After making it to the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history, Shakhtar Donetsk pulverized http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roma-c31603 in the round of sixteen to secure a place in the last eight teams of Europe’s premier competition. The Ukrainian champions can take heart from the fact that they actually defeated Barcelona when they played the Spanish champions last time around at the Nou Camp stadium.
Astonishingly enough, Shakhtar have won nine out of their last ten UEFA Champions League fixtures. They will start the match against Barcelona as clear-cut underdogs but many people are already making a cardinal mistake of writing off the Miners, due to their lack of experience in the Champions League.
Team News
Barcelona’s injured striker, Pedro Rodriguez trained on Tuesday morning, so he is in contention to face Shakhtar Donetsk. Maxwell also trained with the first team squad alongside Pedro so he is also slowly recovering from his fitness issues. However, Puyol is a sure shot absentee for the Donetsk match as he is still recovering by training separately with the Barcelona’s physios.
Expected Barcelona line up: Victor Valdes, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/David-Villa-c10629
Shakhtar Donetsk have a relatively fit squad ahead of their face-off against Barcelona. Their star midfielder Fernandinho Luis Rosa is fit to start on Wednesday night. However, Mircea Lucescu’s team might be without their goal-scoring enthusiast, Eduardo da Silva. The ex-Arsenal striker missed his team’s latest three goals to one win over Illychivets.
Expected Shakhtar Donetsk line up: http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Luiz-Adriano-c22841
Key Players
Barcelona’s key player has to be http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296. The Argentinean forward was their star player when Arsenal came calling to Nou Camp last month. In his eight UEFA Champions League appearances for the Blaugranes, Messi has netted eight and assisted two goals.
On the other hand, Shakhtar will bank on their Croatian midfielder Srna to take up the playmaking mantle for the Ukrainian champions. Srna has been quietly working behind the scenes for Shakhtar this season, as he has made three assists and scored one goal for Donetsk in his eight UEFA Champions League appearances thus far.
Prediction
This match will not be a walk in the park for Barcelona but Pep Guardiola’s outfit has shown repeatedly, that they have the capability to make it look easier than it really is when they take the field against any opposition in the world. Prediction: Barcelona 3 – 1 Shakhtar Donetsk
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