Feyenoord is in Warsaw on Thursday for the first leg of their Europa League clash against Shakhtar Donetsk.
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Feyenoord are having a great campaign so far and they currently sit top of the Eredivisie and in the KNVB Cup semi-finals. Arne Slot’s side are also looking to make an impact in Europe this season and they will feel confident that they can progress to the quarter-finals against Shakhtar Donetsk.
The Ukrainian side dropped into the competition from the Champions League before ousting Stade Rennes in the previous round on penalties following a 3-3 draw.
Feyenoord topped their Europa League group in rather fortunate circumstances. All four sides finished on eight points but Feyenoord had the best goal difference.
At the weekend, Shakhtar Donetsk thrashed Metalist Kharkiv 7-0 and they are currently top of their league. Feyenoord saw off Groningen 1-0 to maintain their three point lead in the Eredivisie.
The match is being played in Warsaw due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Team News
Feyenoord are without Quinten Timber, Patrick Walemark and Justin Bijlow through injury but Sebastian Szymański could return to the starting eleven after returning to fitness. Gernot Trauner is also fit again but he may be eased back in from the bench.
Possible Feyenoord line-up: Wellenreuther, Pedersen, Hartman, Geertruida, Hancko, Wieffer, Kokcu, Szymanski, Dilrosun, Idrissi, Gimenez
Forward Maryan Shved is out while centre-back Mykola Matvienko is a major doubt. Former Ajax forward Lassina Traore is likely to start.
Possible Shakhtar line-up: Trubin; Konoplya, Bondar, Rakitskiy, Mykhaylichenko; Bondarenko, Stepanenko, Djurasek; Zubkov, Sudakov; Traore
Odds
Shakhtar Donetsk 2/1 Draw 5/2 Feyenoord 13/10
Can Feyenoord return to De Kuip with a victory?
Shakhtar can definitely not be underestimated but Feyenoord goes into the game on the back of five-straight wins and they will be confident of coming away with another.
Slot has his side set up defensively strong but with pace at the top to cause danger. At times, Feyenoord will have to take some pressure but they will be able to hit Shakhtar quickly on the counter.
Feyenoord will be looking to emulate AZ against Lazio and take a good result back to the Netherlands for the second leg next week. A draw would not be a bad result either but Slot’s side should be going for a victory.
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