Shakhtar Donetsk will travel to Glasgow this Tuesday to face Scottish Premiership giants Celtic in the fourth round of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League group stages.
Venue: Celtic Park (Glasgow)
Key Statistics
Celtic are winless in their last seven UCL group games (D1, L6).
They have failed to score in their last two home games in UCL.
But the Bhoys have won ten out of 11 league games (L1) and scored 39 goals.
Shakhtar Donetsk have lost on their previous two trips to Glasgow.
They have won just once in 12 away clashes with British opposition (D2, L9).
The visitors’ Mykhaylo Mudryk has been involved in 12 of Shakhtar’s 23 goals this year, netting five times and bagging seven assists.
Celtic forward James Forrest has netted four times in his last two matches and has been on the winning side in his last 22 goal-scoring appearances.
Six of Celtic’s last nine UCL matches have seen more goals in the second half than the first.
Head to head
Both sides have two wins apiece in five head-to-head meetings.
Latest performances in all competitions
Celtic: W-W-W-L-W
Shakhtar Donetsk: W-W-D-L-W
Celtic
After failing to win any of their opening four UCL group games this season, Celtic will hope a fully-packed Celtic Park can inspire them to a huge win when they host Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday.
Ange Postecoglou’s men have been beaten by Real Madrid, and twice by RB Leipzig in the UCL group stage this season.
Their only point after four rounds came in this reverse fixture where they held their visitors to a 1-1 draw in Poland.
With just one point to their name, Celtic know it is last chance saloon if their European endeavours are to continue into the new year.
While their hopes of reaching the knock-out stages of the UEFA Champions League are already dead in the water, they can still qualify for UEFA Europa League (UEL) preliminary knock-out round if they can win this game and the next against Real Madrid.
But given that they come into this tie without a win in the UCL group stage in seven games (D1, L6), they are swimming against the tide in their attempts to record a win.
Possible Celtic starting line-up
Joe Hart; Josip Juranovic, Carter-Vickers, Moritz Jenz, Greg Taylor; Matt O’Riley, Sead Hakšabanović, Reo Hatate; James Forrest, Liel Abada, Georgios Giakoumakis.
Injured: Stephen Walsh, Callum McGregor, Carl Starfelt
Doubtful: Jota, David Turnbull
Suspended: None
Shakhtar Donetsk
After suspending their weekend fixture to give them ample time to prepare for this must-win game against Scottish Premiership defending champions Celtic, Shakhtar Donetsk will hope to get maximum points from this game and keep their chances of qualifying for the next stage of the UCL alive.
The visitors are currently sitting third in Group F after winning one, drawing two and losing one of their opening five group-stage games.
With RB Leipzig just one point ahead of them, a win in this game and Leipzig losing against Real would put them in a great position to qualify for the UCL last 16.
They should be well prepared for this clash too, given their fixture at the weekend was postponed in order to prepare for the trip to Scotland, meaning their last game was a 3-0 win over Kolos Kovalivka, a sixth successive domestic victory.
Having lost just one game since they reconvened for competitive football in August (W7, D3), they will fancy their chances of recording their first win in three visits to Scotland, having lost tier last two visits to the British nation.
Possible Shakhtar Donetsk starting line-up
Anatolii Trubin; Lucas Taylor, Mykola Mativiyenko, Valeriy Bondar, Yukhym Konoplia; Marian Shved, Artem Bondarenko, Taras Stepanenko, Georgiv Sudakov, Mykhaylo Mudryk; Oleksandr Zubkov.
Injured: None
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Prediction
Celtic 1-2 Shakhtar Donetsk
