Shakhtar Donetsk vs Bayern Munich preview

February 16, 2015
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Shakhtar vs BayernIt will be up to Ukrainian giants Shakhtar Donetsk to try and stop red-hot Bayern Munich in their tracks, with the first leg played at L’viv Arena.

The Bavarians go into the game on the back of an 8-0 triumph over Hamburg, so no doubt they are the favourites to go through.

Ukrainian sides are always a bit disadvantaged in the Champions League first knockout round due to the lengthy winter break, with domestic season not due to resume for another ten days.

Nevertheless, Shakhtar have already played a host of warm-up games in an attempt to build match fitness for the Bayern clash, with a short tour of Brazil followed by matches against Dinamo Zagreb and AaB.

Apart from big wins over BATE Borisov, the Pitmen were not that impressive in other group games and they will find it hard to match the Bavarians in L’viv.

However, with the attacking potential at Mircea Lucescu’s disposal, there appears to be value in odds of 1.83 (5/6) offered at Betfred.

The hosts are without the suspended Taras Stepanenko, with Fernando expected to deputize in the centre of the park.

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

Bayern Munich eased off to the first place in one of the toughest Champions League groups and they were in turn rewarded with a favourable draw for the first knockout stage.

The Bavarians won five group fixtures and only suffered an unfortunate defeat to Manchester City at the Etihad, when they spent more than 70 minutes on the pitch with ten men.

Pep Guardiola’s charges have since opened up an eight-point lead at the Bundesliga summit in spite of the 4-1 loss to second-placed Wolfsburg and are now turning their attention back to the Champions League.

As expected, Bayern produced the perfect response to the unexpected defeat, having defeated Stuttgart on the road before putting eight past Hamburg at the weekend.

The Bavarians enter the Shakhtar game full of confidence and are available at 1.40 (2/5) with William Hill to win the first leg in L’viv.

Bayern are still without Philipp Lahm, Javi Martinez and Thiago Alcantara, but Holger Badstuber and David Alaba have returned into action.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Neuer – Rafinha, Boateng, Benatia, Bernat – Schweinsteiger, Alonso, Alaba – Robben, Lewandowski, Muller.

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