Preview

Before the match
 
After three rounds, Shakhtar are coming second in Group F. Paulo Fonseca’s men claimed 6 points, with Napoli sitting at a distance of one victory, as Manchester City lead maintaining their 100 per cent record.
 
Following the victory in Rotterdam, the Orange-and-Blacks held several matches in the domestic competitions. In the Ukrainian Premier League, they registered 2 draws against Dynamo and Stal, as in the cup-tie versus Zorya, the Donetsk team emerged victorious in extra time to advance to the next stage.
 
Yaroslav Rakits’kyy will miss out due to the sending-off in the previous encounter with Feyenoord. Maksym Malyshev and Sergii Kryvtsov are recovering from the injuries.
 
Opponents
 
The clash in Kharkiv is extremely important for Feyenoord to continue their Champions League campaign. Giovanni van Bronkhorst’s team must win, in addition, the point deficit forces to give their all in the away match against the Miners.
 
The Rotterdam side, as well as Shakhtar, played out their last fixture in a draw (1-1 with Roda) ahead of the European Cup competitions. Steven Berghuis got on the scoresheet. Before that, Feyenoord claimed a confident 4-1 win at Swift in the cup tie, but were defeated by Ajax in the domestic league with the same score. The gap from the Amsterdamers in the Eredivisie table is now 5 points, as the toppers PSV are 10 points clear.

Previous meeting
 
On October 17 in Rotterdam, Paulo Fonseca’s men were forced to come back from the 8th minute: Pyatov parried the blow from Vilhena, but Berghuis got onto the rebound to make it 1-0. Midway through the first half, the score was equal: with an excellent through-ball, Fred contrived to put Bernard one-on-one with Jones, and the Brazilian converted his chance. Moreover, on the 54th minute, the Miners’ left-winger bagged a brace by turning a cross from Butko home with his header. Following several clear-cut efforts before the final whistle, this goal appeared victorious for Shakhtar.