Shakhtar With Upper Hand in Ukraine

Shakhtar Donetsk vs VfL Wolfsburg - 05/08/2020

Europa League | Preview

03/08/20

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One of the four UEFA Europa League matches being played on Wednesday the 5th of August is between Shakhtar Donetsk and Wolfsburg. This is the second leg of their tie, with the first having been completed in Germany prior to the outbreak of COVID-19. The match will be played at the Oblasny SportKomplex Metalist, which is not the usual home of the club.

Shakhtar Donetsk secured the Ukraine Premier League title this season, doing so comfortably ahead of the 2nd place team Dynamo Kiev. The league resumed on the 31st of May and Shakhtar Donetsk began with a good 3-1 home victory against Dynamo Kiev. They went on to remain undefeated for the remainder of the campaign, winning 7 and drawing 2 of their 9 matches.

Shakhtar Donetsk started the European season by playing in the Champions League but finished third in a group containing Atalanta, Manchester City and Dinamo Zagreb. They won only one of their 6 Champions League matches but also picked up 3 draws.

At home in the Europa League, Shakhtar Donetsk have lost only one of their last 11 games. Trends show they have been exciting to watch and Shakhtar Donetsk have seen over 2.5 goals scored in their last 5 matches in the Europa League. However, they have failed to keep a clean sheet in 3 of their last 4 home games in the competition.

Wolfsburg have a difficult job on their hands as they have to overturn a 2-1 deficit from the first leg. They fell a goal behind after 16 minutes and despite scoring an equaliser early in the second half, Wolfsburg fell behind again in the 73rd minute.

Wolfsburg stuttered towards the end of their Bundesliga season, finishing in 7th place. Following the resumption of the League on the 16th of May, Wolfsburg won 4 of their 9 Bundesliga games, losing 4 and drawing one.

Prior to the defeat at home by Shakhtar Donetsk, Wolfsburg enjoyed a run of 4 successive victories in the Europa League. Two of those wins came away from home and trends show Wolfsburg are undefeated in each of their last 9 away Europa League matches. They have managed to score 2 or more goals in 4 of their 6 most recent away games in the competition and know they must repeat that feat to have any chance of going through.

Team news and Shakhtar Donetsk will be without the injured duo of Maycon and Valerii Bondar. Every other player should be available including top goal scorer Júnior Moraes.

🐺 @EuropaLeague is back 🐺#VfLWolfsburg #UEL pic.twitter.com/EoXb4MQ1pJ
— VfL Wolfsburg EN (@VfLWolfsburg_EN) August 3, 2020

Wolfsburg travel without several players due to injury including Admir Mehmedi, Ignacio Camacho, Jeffrey Bruma, William and Xaver Schlager. Wout Weghorst is expected to play up-front and is the man they will be relying on to score the goals.

Shakhtar Donetsk may have the upper hand in the tie but Wolfsburg have shown they are capable of getting good results away from home in the Europa League. We expect to see both teams scoring but it could be the Germans who get the win and progress to the quarter-final.

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