Shakhtar vs Basel: match preview

August 11, Gelsenkirchen, Arena AufSchalke, 22:00

Before the match

Just a few days ago, Luis Castro's men had a Round of 16 return leg against Wolfsburg and completed their job - 2-1 away and 3-0 in Kyiv. Shakhtar advanced to the quarter-finals. The remaining decisive Europa League rounds, each of which is a one-leg tie, will be held in German cities.

The Orange-and-Blacks are to face Basel in Gelsenkirchen. The team will leave for Germany on the matchday’s eve, August 10. The Miners will resume their daily training sessions on Friday, gradually shifting the focus on preparation for the next match. David Khocholava was suspended due to the sending-off in the game against Wolfsburg.

Let us remind you that in the European club cup history, Shakhtar played 5 Swiss clubs: Servette, Zurich, Lugano, Young Boys and Basel (7 wins, 1 draw and 3 defeats).

Opponents

In early August, Basel finished their Swiss league campaign, becoming the bronze medalists. 3 days after the final match, they qualified for the Europa League quarter-finals. In the Round of 16, Marcel Koller's team beat the German Eintracht 4-0 on aggregate, with the Cypriot APOEL fulfilling a similar scenario a round earlier. We told you about Basel’s European competition campaign before.

The Red-and-Blues had the following lineup in the return leg vs Eintracht Frankfurt: Nikolic, Widmer, Comert, Alderete, Petretta, Xhaka, Frei, Stocker (Van Wolfswinkel, 66’), Campo, Pululu (Van Der Werff, 66’), Cabral (Ademi, 80’). The only late goal was scored by the central midfielder Fabian Frei. By the way, 12 years ago, in the Champions League encounter with Shakhtar, he was sitting on the bench, while the current team captain Valentin Stocker played for 90 minutes back then.

Central defender Eray Comert will miss the quarterfinal due to earning four yellow cards. The goalkeeper Jonas Omlin and the midfielders Luca Zuffi and Ramires have been recovering from injuries for some time.

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