Preview

August 5, Kyiv, NSC Olimpiyskiy, 19:55

Before the match

Shakhtar have not had any competitive games since July 19when they had the closing Ukrainian League matchday vs Oleksandriia. In fact, from that evening on, the team switched to the Europa League and started preparing for the return clash with Wolfsburg. The Orange-and-Blacks trained in line with the schedule and had friendlies vs Polissya and Veres.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, there have been nearly five months between the two legs of the Round of 16 tie. In Wolfsburg back in March, Shakhtar won by scoring two awaygoals (by Junior Moraes and Marcos Antonio). However, the European competitions status, the high level of all participants, along with the long break that gave each team equal opportunitiesto scrupulously hone every minute move, have doubled the complexity of the return leg.

At yesterday’s press conference, the Shakhtar manager Luis Castro noted that his players are determined to win only. Interestingly, Shakhtar's seven previous home games against the rivals from Germany ended in draws (vs Schalke 04, Borussia, Bayer Leverkusen, BayernMunich, Schalke 04, Hoffenheim, Eintracht).

Opponents

Wolfsburg finished 7th in the 2019/20 Bundesliga season, winning a Europa League qualifying stage berth for next season. After the encounter with Shakhtar, the team of Austrian Oliver Glasner alternated victories (vs Augsburg, Bayer Leverkusen, Werder Bremen, Schalke 04) with defeats (vs Borussia Dortmund, Eintracht, Borussia Monchengladbach, Bayern Munich) and tied once (vs Freiburg). The Green-Whitesfinished their Bundesliga campaign on June 27.

Wolfsburg cannot count on the self-quarantining Kevin Mbabu. In the first leg, he also did not play due to the hip issues-back then, the winger Renato Steffen dropped to the right-back position. Now the Swiss is suspended. There are some other injured players, this fact notwithstanding Glasner brought more than just combative staff to Kyiv. The Green-Whites had more than a month of closed training to improve their link-up play and tactical moves.