Real Madrid will continue their UEFA Champions League title defence this Wednesday when they host Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk in the third group game of the 2022/23 UCL season.
Venue: Santiago Bernabéu (Madrid)
Key Statistics
Real Madrid are unbeaten in their last 14 competitive games (W12, D2).
The hosts have kept four consecutive clean sheets in the UEFA competitions.
They have scored 2+ goals in nine of their last ten games in all competitions.
Shakhtar Donetsk are unbeaten in their last seven competitive games this season (W5, D2).
They are unbeaten in competitive fixtures since November 2021.
The visitors lost all three UCL away games last season, conceding twice in each game.
Head to head
Real Madrid have won four out of the six previous meetings between both sides (L2).
Latest performances in all competitions
Real Madrid: D-W-W-W-W
Shakhtar: W-L-D-W-W
Real Madrid
Real Madrid saw their eight-game winning streak brought to a halt by Osasuna over the weekend when they were held to a 1-1 draw by the team from Pamplona, with Karim Benzema missing a crucial penalty to see his team relinquish his top spot to Barcelona at the summit of the Spanish La Liga.
Los Blancos are one of the favourites to go all the way to the final, and Carlo Ancelotti’s men have started the season in fine form, taking two wins from two of their matches so far in the Campaign to go top of Group F.
The Spanish side secured a 2-0 win over Leipzig in their last outing in the Champions League before the International break, with goals from Fede Valverde and Marco Asensio giving Carlo Ancelotti’s side all three points.
Los Blancos will now look to bounce back from their draw against Osasuna with a win over Shakhtar Donetsk and move further ahead of the rest in Group F.
Real Madrid secured home and away victories over Shakhtar Donetsk in their journey to the finals last season, but a shock home and away defeat to the Ukrainians in the 2020/2021 season will be fresh on Carlo Ancelotti’s mind and the Italian tactician will be keen to see his side not succumb to another shock result.
Possible Real Madrid starting line-up
Andriy Lunin; Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao, David Alaba, Ferland Mendy; Toni Kroos, Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni; Vinicius Junior, Federico Valverde, Karim Benzema.
Injured: Lucas Vazquez, Luka Modric, Thibaut Courtois
Doubtful: Karim Benzema
Suspended: None
Shakhtar Donetsk
Shakhtar Donetsk have made an impressive start to the Champions League campaign, with one draw and one particularly impressive win over Leipzig in game week one, with goals from Lassina Traore, Mykhaylo Mudryk and a brace from Maryan Shved enough to secure all three points for Igor Jovicevic’s team and put the rest of Group F on alert.
The Ukrainian giants followed up their opening game win with a hard-fought 1-1 draw against the Scottish side Celtic. The draw saw Igor Jovicevic’s team take up second place behind Real Madrid in Group F, two points behind the defending Champions.
The Croatian tactician will now take his team to Madrid as they lock horns with Real Madrid for the outright claim to the top spot.
In addition to their impressive start to the Champions League season, Shakhtar Donetsk have been in imperious form domestically, where they are yet to taste defeat after five rounds of football. Igor Jovicevic’s team play with a certain swagger and their unbeaten streak will serve as a morale booster when they take to the field at the Santiago Bernabeu, but the Croatian tactician and his boys will face the biggest test of their season yet and must dig deep to come away from Spain with a good result.
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: Viktor Koriienko
Doubtful: Andriy Totovytsky
Suspended: None
Prediction
Real Madrid 3-1 Shakhtar
