Champions League Shakhtar Donetsk vs Hoffenheim
Paulo Fonseca’s team was drawn in Group F where will appear with Hoffenheim, Lyon and Manchester City. Logical favoritism for the English, in a group where Shakhtar feeds just hopes of qualifying for the “eighth”.
For that, it will have to be better than Germans and French. In this new season, Shakhtar only lost two games, both against arch-rival Dynamo Kiev, for the Super Cup and for the Ukrainian League.
In addition, they have won all seven of their remaining matches and have already comfortably led the standings in Ukraine with 21 points, 7 more than Dynamo Kiev, who have one game less, and 5 more than second-placed Oleksandria .
Most recently, Shakhtar Donetsk beat Illichivets’ (2-0) and repeated the result in the difficult move to Oleksandria on the last round of the weekend.
Hoffenheim are making their debut in the Champions League group stage here after falling in the playoffs against Liverpool last season.
It’s a dream come true for the Nagelsmann set, which in truth, despite its quality, has not started well in its season.
They even thrashed Kaiserslautern 6-1 in the Cup, the first official match of 2018/19, but in the Bundesliga start they only have 3 points in 3 matches as a result of a 3-1 win at Freiburg.
They lost to Bayern (1-3) and more recently to Fortuna Düsseldorf (1-2).
The Hoffenheim team is a team that practices good football, the best that is done in Germany, so much so that it reaches this Champions with all the merit, after the 3rd place last season in a Bundesliga ahead of Dortmund, Leverkusen and Leipzig.
I do not believe that they are going to enter the field in Ukraine too defensive, with that I predict an interesting match and balanced.
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It turns out that Shakhtar are a more routine team in this type of environment and, at home, I think they should be more consistent above all defensively, which is precisely Hoffenheim’s greatest weakness, and thus put itself in a better position to secure a triumph in this debut.
At worst, I think the game will end in a draw, I do not see the Hoffenheim ability to go to Kharkiv, against a very organized and quality Shakhtar in the defensive process.
Betting Prediction: Shakhtar Donetsk AH -0.25
Odds: 1.57
