Preview

November 28, Hamburg, Volksparkstadion, 19:45
The live broadcast will be available on Megogo

Match build-up

Shakhtar, who claimed a sensational win over Barcelona in Hamburg (1-0), have 6 points (goal difference: 6-7) and continue fight for advancing to the Champions League play-offs after 4 group stage games played. For this, Marino Pusic’s side have to win both upcoming matches against Antwerp and Porto with the best goal difference in the face-to-face meetings with the Portuguese outfit. It will be enough for the Pitmen to gain 1 point in 2 final rounds to qualify for the Europa League.

The Orange-and-Blacks approach the match against the Belgian champions on the back of significant personnel losses. The team arrived in Germany without Dmytro Chyhrynskyi, Yukhym Konoplia, Yehor Nazaryna, Marian Shved and Ivan Petriak. However, the team's top scorer Danylo Sikan is in excellent form: he netted 6 goals this season, 3 of which were scored in the Champions League.

Opponents

Antwerp are the undisputed outsiders of Group H, having not a single point after 4 games (goal difference: 3-14). The Belgians suffered successive defeats from Barcelona (0-5), Shakhtar (2-3) and twice from Porto (1-4 at home, 0-2 away). The most interesting thing is that even under such circumstances, Mark van Bommel's lads retain mathematical chances for the final third spot and advancing to the Europa League: for this they need to win against Shakhtar and Barcelona, as well as count on the defeat of the Miners in the last round.

Antwerp are in the fifth spot of the table after 15 rounds with a gap of 11 points from the leaders in the Belgian league. In the last 2 matches, Mark van Bommel's side first defeated Standard at home (6-0) and last Friday tied in an away match with Sint-Truidense (1-1) through Ejuke's goal. The best scorers of Antwerp this season are Vincent Janssen (9 goals scored) and Michel-Ange Balikwisha (7 goals and 6 assists).

Match background

The first and only meeting between Shakhtar and Antwerp was the 2023/24 Champions League group stage round 2 match in Belgium. The hosts were more powerful and took the lead through the goals from Muja and Balikwisha in the first half, but everything changed after the break. The Miners turned on speed, pressing and aggression in the attack and managed to completely change the game. In the 48th minute, Danylo Sikan reduced the gap, with Yaroslav Rakitskyi equalizing through a free kick in the 71st minute. 5 minutes later, Sikan scored the winning goal through Nazaryna's pass. As a result, a fantastic comeback and 3-2 in favour of Shakhtar.

Shakhtar vs Antwerp match will be officiated by the Polish judging panel headed by Bartosz Frankowski.