Shakhtar Donetsk vs Feyenoord

Feyenoord head to the Stadion Wojska Polskiego in Warsaw to take on Shakhtar Donetsk in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie.

After crashing out of the Champions League group phase, Shakhtar Donetsk squeezed past Ligue 1 outfit Rennes in the Europa League knockout playoffs, going through on penalties. Forced to play away from home due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the ‘Miners’ have settled well in the new environment, going unbeaten in 16 of their 19 Europa League fixtures as designated hosts (W11, D5), including four victories in their last five such games (L1). Another positive result looms as the Ukrainians have won both previous European match-ups against Feyenoord by 2+ goals ‘to one,’ suggesting a high-scoring theme could be the order of the day. Adding to Shakhtar’s confidence, they’ve won three of their last four competitive home matches, a run bookended by a 2-1 triumph over Rennes.

On the other hand, despite experiencing an underwhelming Europa League group-stage campaign (W2, D2, L2) and signing off with a 1-0 defeat at Lazio, Feyenoord finished top of Group F on goal difference alone. Indeed, the Dutch heavyweights are winless in their last 13 away matches in the Europa League proper (D5, L8), failing to get on the scoresheet eight times in the process. Their travel sickness faces another daunting task as they’ve gone winless on all five previous continental trips to meet Ukrainian opposition (D2, L3). But on the bright side, Arne Slot’s men have won their last three competitive away games, netting multiple goals on two occasions.