........ travel to Poland and a Champions League 3rd qualifying round 2nd leg tie with Legia Warszawa, holding a narrow 1-0 lead.
The Ukrainians missed enough chances to have won 3 matches in the first leg, but were constantly denied by the Legia goalkeeper and the woodwork.
Shakhtar are a club with massive ambition. Owned by the very wealthy Rinat Akhmetov, said to be worth over $12 billion, they have a training complex which is the envy of many in world football and are building a 50,000 seater stadium, costing over $200m.
Failure to reach the group stage will be nothing short of a disaster. Coached by the vastly experienced, Mircea Lucescu and with a mutinational squad, containing six Brazilians, two Nigerians and the best that Eastern Europe has to offer, six players went to the 2006 World Cup with the Ukraine national squad.
They have yet to concede in 4 domestic league games and with big national rivals, Dynamo Kiev, looking set to reach the next Champions League stage, they simply have to follow suit.
Very troubled times for Legia, a poor start to the season and tales of disputes amongst the squad, stories of players not turning up for training, true or false, are hardly ideal preparation. They are going to be without 2, maybe 3, defenders, are very unhappy with the appointment of Mike Riley as referee and may already be looking for excuses.
The Polish side will be forced to come forward and Donetsk can exploit the extra space.
4 points Shakhtar Donetsk level ball asian line 1.66.
Good Luck.
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