Shakhtar Donetsk vs Bayer Leverkusen preview

November 4, 2013
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Bayer Leverkusen vs Shakhtar DonetskShakhtar Donetsk would be in a very good position to qualify should they happen to win this match, but Mircea Lucescu’s side will have to show a massive improvement on the 4-0 defeat in Germany.

Meanwhile, Bayer Leverkusen are hoping to make amends for the weekend’s defeat to Eintracht Braunschweig and record a positive result that would ensure they remain in the second place.

After impressing in last year’s Champions League, Shakhtar have seen quite a few key players leave the club, with Mkhitaryan and Fernandinho among those to have left.

A number of quality players also arrived, but Mircea Lucescu hasn’t managed to rebuild his squad the way he wanted to.

As a result, the Miners have suffered several unexpected slip-ups in the league, while they were doing pretty well in Europe until the aforementioned heavy defeat in Leverkusen.

Nevertheless, with Shakhtar just two points behind their next opponents, a win on Tuesday would seriously boost their qualifying hopes.

Having said that, the Miners are 2.15 (23/20) to end a three-match winless run in Champions League fixtures at Donbass Arena.

Forward Wellington Nem is ineligible, but Mircea Lucescu has no other selection worries ahead of the Leverkusen clash.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Pyatov – Srna, Rakitskiy, Kucher, Shevchuk – Fernando, Hubschman – Douglas Costa, Teixeira, Taison – Adriano.

Bayer Leverkusen have been making steady progress under Sami Hyypia and they look ready to mount a serious title challenge in German Bundesliga.

Meanwhile, the team are also hoping to reach the final stages of the Champions League, although it appears the lack of strength in depth could prove to be the problem.

Sami Hyypia’s decision to rest his star players in the weekend’s clash with bottom-placed Braunschweig ended up costing him dearly as his second string side suffered a 1-0 defeat in the process.

At least now his key men will be fresh for the all-important match against Shakhtar Donetsk, which should give the visitors an extra edge.

With that in mind, maybe there is some value in odds of 3.60 (13/5) offered at SkyBet on away win that would see the Germans all but secure their place in the next stage.

Important defender Emir Spahic could return from a back problem, while Lars Bender, Sidney Sam, Stefan Kiessling and few more first team regulars are set to be recalled.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Leno – Donati, Spahic, Toprak, Boenisch – Bender, Rolfes, Can – Sam, Kiessling, Son.

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