Antwerp – Shakhtar Donetsk : Preview & Prediction
Antwerp had a baptism of fire in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) as their group stage debut ended in a 5-0 defeat to Barcelona on matchday one, which may have dented their confidence as they followed this with three consecutive goalless draws in the league. While they continue to search for their first goal since mid-September, more history could be about to be made in this clash against Shakhtar Donetsk, which will be the first official clash in their history against a Ukrainian club.
The reigning Belgian champions could at least point to their good home form as a solid foundation on which to build their first UCL group stage win as they have not lost a match in that capacity since mid-March (G8, E3). The last five matches in that period were accompanied by a clean sheet (G3, E2), including a 1-0 UCL qualifying win in August against AEK that helped Antwerp reach this stage.
As for Shakhtar, they moved into first place in the Ukrainian Premier League after last weekend, but before that they were beaten 3-1 by Porto in their first UCL match, a game that saw all four of their goals in the first half hour of play. Whether there is early action or not, they should expect to have better luck now as they have never lost to a Belgian club in the UCL (G4, E2), most recently including both home and away wins against Genk in 2021/22.
Being disadvantaged by not playing UCL home games due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, their away performance in UCL commitments is also poor, with only one win in their last six such clashes (E1, P4), with all defeats seeing Shakhtar concede exactly two goals. The only win came against Leipzig last season and worryingly remains their only win in eight matches on rival soil in UCL group stage (E2, P5).
Players to watch: Vincent Janssen opened the scoring for Antwerp in the last match in which he scored, while he also scored his only goal against AEK at this venue in August. Oleksii Kashchuk has scored four goals for Shakhtar this season, with all of them coming in away games and were either the first or second goal of their respective fixture.
Key stat: Four of Shakhtar’s last six away games in the UCL have featured a goal in the first 20 minutes of play.
Antwerp – Shakhtar Donetsk : Betting Tips
Shakhtar Donetsk – Win Odds: 2.25
