Real Madrid will hope to return to winning ways when they welcome Shakhtar Donetsk to the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday.
Matchday 3 of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League group stage will conclude on Wednesday, with eight matches scheduled. Real Madrid will feature in the prime Group F showing as they play hosts to Shakhtar Donetsk at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Real Madrid finally failed to win a game this season for the first time this past weekend, with Osasuna holding them to a 1-1 draw in La Liga. That result meant the Merengues have dropped to second in the league table. But Carlo Ancelotti’s men remain atop Group F in the UEFA Champions League after beating Celtic and RB Leipzig in their first two fixtures.
On the other hand, Shakhtar Donetsk sprang a surprise in the first two matchdays by beating RB Leipzig 4-1 and holding Celtic to a 1-1 draw. Igor Jovicevic’s men have also been in fine form in the Ukrainian Premier League, winning four games and playing out one stalemate to lead SC Dnipro-1 by a point.
Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk have been familiar opponents in recent years. And Los Blancos beat Shakhtar 2-1 last season, with Karim Benzema scoring a match-winning brace. The Hard Tackle takes a closer look at the encounter ahead of the latest meeting between the two sides.
Team News & Tactics
Real Madrid
📋✅ Our squad for the match 🆚 @FCShakhtar_eng!#UCL pic.twitter.com/a8T0stdZLt
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) October 4, 2022
Carlo Ancelotti has greeted a mixed bag of updates on the team news front ahead of the visit of Shakhtar Donetsk. On Wednesday, the Real Madrid manager might be bereft of the services of one first-team player.
Thibaut Courtois remains on the sidelines with the back injury that forced him to miss out against Osasuna this past weekend. And according to the reliable Jose Luis Sanchez, Courtois will not feature for Real Madrid against Shakhtar Donetsk.
In addition, according to AS, Eduardo Camavinga trained alone ahead of the game and might not feature for Real Madrid against Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday. But there is some good news as Luka Modric and Lucas Vazquez have recovered from their issues and will likely make the matchday squad.
But Ancelotti might not risk Modric against Shakhtar, with the first El Clasico of the season less than two weeks away. So Federico Valverde will likely start in the midfield unit alongside Aurelien Tchouameni and Toni Kroos. Modric will thus be a backup option on the bench, along with Dani Ceballos.
Rodrygo Goes stepped up well in Karim Benzema’s absence and should pick himself on the right wing against Shakhtar. Benzema should spearhead the Real Madrid attack, with Vinicius Junior, who made his mark against RB Leipzig, completing the offensive unit.
As for the defensive unit, Dani Carvajal and Ferland Mendy should start as the two full-backs. Eder Militao will likely pair up with David Alaba at the heart of the Real Madrid defence. Finally, Andriy Lunin will continue deputising for Courtois in goal against Shakhtar in the Belgian’s absence.
Probable Lineup (4-3-3): Lunin; Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Mendy; Valverde, Tchouameni, Kroos; Rodrygo, Benzema, Vinicius
Shakhtar Donetsk
Unlike his counterpart in the Real Madrid dugout, Igor Jovicevic does not have many pressing concerns hampering his preparations ahead of the trip to the Santiago Bernabeu. The Shakhtar Donetsk manager will only be without one first-team player on Wednesday, with Viktor Kornienko being a long-term absentee.
Jovicevic has primarily utilised the 4-1-4-1 formation this season, and Shakhtar will line up in the same system against Real Madrid. Anatoliy Trubin should start ahead of club captain Andriy Pyatov between the sticks.
⚒ List of players who went to Spain for the match vs Real Madrid.
⭐️ @ChampionsLeague 📅 October 5 ⏰ 21:00 CET#Shakhtar #UCL #RealMadridShakhtar pic.twitter.com/7MKeRxvaKY
— FC SHAKHTAR ENGLISH (@FCShakhtar_eng) October 3, 2022
Mykola Matviyenko and Valeriy Bondar will likely pair up at the heart of the Shakhtar Donetsk. Meanwhile, Lucas Taylor and Yukhym Konpolya will be the two full-backs, with the duo being the workhorses against Real Madrid this week.
Taras Stepanenko will be responsible for keeping Real Madrid’s creative midfielders quiet, with Georgiy Sudakov and Artem Bondarenko providing him defensive support. But Bondarenko will largely essay a creative role through the centre for Shakhtar.
Maryan Shved and Mykhaylo Mudryk, who has become a hot property in the market, will be the two wide men for Shakhtar against Real Madrid. Finally, Danylo Sikan, who scored a hat-trick against Metalist Kharkiv this past weekend, will spearhead the Shakhtar Donetsk attack.
Probable Lineup (4-1-4-1): Trubin; Taylor, Bondar, Matviyenko, Konoplya; Stepanenko; Shved, Bondarenko, Sudakov, Mudryk; Sikan
Key Stats
- 2022/23 is the third consecutive season to see Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk meet in the UEFA Champions League group stage. The Merengues have won four of their six Champions League matches against Shakhtar Donetsk, all in the group stage, winning both games in 2015/16 and 2021/22 but losing both in 2020/21.
- Shakhtar Donetsk won at Real Madrid in the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League group stage. Only four teams have been victorious twice away at Real Madrid in the competition: Ajax, Bayern Munich, Juventus and AS Roma.
- Real Madrid have won each of their last six games in the Champions League group stage, scoring 17 goals and only conceding once in the process. This is their longest winning streak in the group stage of the competition since between November 2013 and September 2015, when they won ten in a row.
- Among teams who have faced Real Madrid on at least five occasions in the UEFA Champions League, only Juventus (44%), Bayern Munich (40%) and Manchester City (38%) have a better win percentage against them than Shakhtar Donetsk (33% – 2/6). Should the Ukrainian giants win this match, their win percentage would climb to 43% and trail only Juventus (44%) in this stat.
- Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior has been directly involved in six goals in four UEFA Champions League appearances against Shakhtar Donetsk (three goals, three assists), his most against a single opponent.
Player to Watch
Karim Benzema
Real Madrid won all the games in Karim Benzema’s absence. But the Frenchman remains a game changer in the final third for Los Blancos. So his return will have left Carlo Ancelotti pleased, especially with the first El Clasico of the season on the horizon.
Benzema did not score on his return against Osasuna this past weekend. So Ancelotti will hope to see the Real Madrid captain rediscover his scoring boots against Shakhtar Donetsk. The upcoming games will be Benzema’s warm-up ahead of the meeting with Barcelona. So the Real Madrid fans will be eagerly watching out for Benzema’s performance this week.
Prediction
Real Madrid 2-0 Shakhtar Donetsk
Real Madrid seldom concede goals in the UEFA Champions League, judging by their recent form. But Shakhtar Donetsk will give Los Blancos a run for their money after starting the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League campaign strongly.
The first half might well end goalless, with Shakhtar leaving Real Madrid frustrated. But the hosts will step up after the break, with Karim Benzema likely delivering the goods. The Hard Tackle predicts a 2-0 win for Real Madrid on Wednesday.
