Shakhtar Donetsk-Marseille is a match valid for the first leg of the play-offs for access to the round of 16 of the Europa League and is played on Thursday at 6:45 p.m.: TV, lineups, predictions.
In the Champions League, Shakhtar Donetsk played its cards in a non-prohibitive but still complicated group, in which the first two places were “booked” from the start by Barcelona and Porto. Marino Pusic’s Orangeers failed to overturn the predictions but gave the Catalans and Portuguese a hard time to the last, even taking the satisfaction of beating the Blaugrana (1-0) on the neutral field of Hamburg (Shakhtar plays is forced to play in Germany due to war events in Ukraine).
Nine points in six games is a good haul: we will need to restart from those to make our way in the Europa League and overcome the playoff hurdle. Standing between the round of 16 and Shakhtar Donetsk is Gennaro Gattuso’s Marseille, who finished second behind Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton in the Europa League group. A goal by Joao Pedro on the final day of the group stage prevented the Phoceens from retaining the top spot and the Seagulls took advantage to overtake them in the standings, qualifying directly for the next round and avoiding the playoff danger. For Gattuso and his troop it is not the happiest of times: last December the feeling was that the Calabrian coach had managed to put things right, but after the Christmas break the usual problems emerged again.
In Ligue 1, in fact, Marseille has not won for a full five days – on Friday it did not go beyond a draw with second-last Metz – and risks moving further away from the Europa zone.
Marseille’s difficult moment
The Phoceens’ performance was also affected by injuries and the African Cup of Nations, if we consider that Gattuso’s team was one of the teams that loaned the most players to the continental event that just ended.
Congolese Mbemba will do everything to be there in the challenge with Shakhtar but Gueye, Rongier, Nadir, Murillo, Kondogbia, and Veretout will be missing from the roll call. As for Shakhtar Donetsk, however, so far the Ukrainians have only played friendly matches, the league having been at a standstill since the first half of December (it will not start again until the end of the month). Ownership, meanwhile, has started scouting young talent in Brazil again: in the January market, Marlon Gomes and Kevin arrived, from Vasco and Palmeiras, respectively.
The prediction
Shakhtar Donetsk, despite not playing an official match since December, should be able to at least avoid defeat against a Marseille struggling with so many problems. Both teams are likely to score on at least one occasion.
The probable lineups of Shakhtar Donetsk-Marseille
SHAKHTAR DONETSK (4-5-1): Riznyk; Gocholeishvili, Bondar, Rakitskyi, Matviienko; Zubkov, Bondarenko, Stepanenko, Sudakov, Kryskiv; Sikan.
MARSEILLE (4-3-3): Pau Lopez; Clauss, Gigot, Balerdi, Merlin; Ounahi, Onana, Harit; Sarr, Aubameyang, Moumbagna.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-1
