Even if the Real Madrid vs Man Utd clash is likely to steal the spotlight, there is every chance that the match at Donbass Arena will be the most interesting one in the Champions League last 16 stage.

Thanks to the serious investment in the playing squad, Shakhtar Donetsk have been making steady progress in Europe over the last few years, and they are on the way to become true European giants.

The Miners needed a lot of time to get past the Champions League group stages, but the first time they did it, they went on to reach the quarter-finals, where they were eliminated by mighty Barcelona.

Two years later, Shakhtar were placed in a very difficult group, but they largely impressed to pip reigning champions Chelsea to the second place in the group, earning a chance to fight for their place in the Last 8.

Boss Mircea Lucescu has recently stayed without star midfielder Willian, who made a €35 million switch to Anzhi, but that shouldn’t prove to be such a big problem as the club had earlier signed Taison from Metalist.

Much bigger problem will be the fact that the team have not been in competitive action since 5th December, although they did impress in recent warm-up games, beating Zenit and CSKA Moscow among others.

That could be one of the reasons why the Miners are 2.60 (8/5) favourites with Coral to win the first leg against Borussia.

On the other hand, Betfair has them at 2.95 (39/20) to qualify for the quarter-finals for the second time in two years.

Boss Mircea Lucescu will have fully fit squad to choose from, but new signing Taison might have to settle for a place on the bench.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Pyatov – Srna, Kucher, Rakitskiy, Rat – Stepanenko, Fernandinho – Douglas Costa, Mkhitaryan, Alex Teixeira – Luiz Adriano.

After impressing on domestic stage to win the second successive Bundesliga title, Borussia Dortmund opted to fully focus on their Champions League campaign this term.

And while that has seen the Millionaires struggle in the league championship, they were able to top the group of death in Europe, beating Real Madrid, Ajax and Manchester City to the first place.

Borussia have since stabilized their domestic form, wining four straight league games, but the 4-1 home defeat to Hamburg definitely came at a bad time.

Even so, Jurgen Klopp’s side are experienced enough not to get too downhearted by the league setback, and they should be able to fully concentrate on their Champions League fixture against Shakhtar.

Borussia Dortmund are 2.88 (17/9) with BetFred to triumph at Donbass Arena, with Robert Lewandowski also 2.88 (17/9) at Ladbrokes to score at any time.

Jurgen Klopp has received a welcoming boost as both Neven Subotic and Marcel Schmelzer have been passed fit for the all-important game in Ukraine.

Kevin Grosskreutz, however, is out with pneumonia, whereas Ilkay Gundogan is doubtful with thigh and toe problems.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Weidenfeller – Piszczek, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer – Kehl, Sahin – Blaszczykowski, Gotze, Reus – Lewandowski.

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