This Europa League match is closer after the first leg than most imagined with Shakhtar leading by just one goal. Having said that, it is a crucial away goal.
Shakhtar are currently in the middle of a winter break in the Ukrainian Premier League in which they are dominating, leading all the important statistic charts. The Ukrainian champions were also arguably the most impressive team in the Europa League group stages with six wins, 21 goals scored and just five goals conceded.
Paulo Fonseca’s side, are fantastic in every department and manage to score plenty of goals whilst also being defensively resolute at the back. Despite not playing a competitive match since December, the Miners still managed to go to Celta Vigo and win to nil which shows just how extraordinary they are.
Shakhtar’s home form has been excellent, dropping points on just one occasion on home soil in the league this season. Additionally, they have lost just one Europa League home game since 15th March 2007.
Celta had been having a pretty bad time of late, losing three on the bounce, before beating Osasuna in La Liga at the weekend, boosting them up to 9th in the table.
The Sky Blues are certainly a team who look to outscore the opposition and they have one of the best goal-scoring records in the Spanish league with 36 goals in 22 games. Of course this open style also means they concede quite a lot (36).
Away form has been pretty poor for Eduardo Berizzo’s side with just nine points taken from 11 matches on the road in La Liga. Furthermore, they have won just one fixture on their travels in the Europa League this season.
I expect Shakhtar to get the job done here, they have the all-important advantage and should be able to pick off a Celta side who struggle away from home. ‘Shakhtar to Win Half-Time/Full-Time’, at 8/5, looks a decent bet.
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