Shakhtar Donetsk vs Manchester City, UEFA Champions League Matchday 1: Team News, Preview and Prediction

Competition/Round: 2019/20 UEFA Champions League – Matchday 1

Date/Time: Shakhtar Donetsk vs Manchester City – Wednesday, 18 September 2019, 20:00 GMT (UK); 15:00 EST, 12:00 PST (USA)

Venue: Metalist Stadium, Kharkiv, Ukraine

Match Officials:

Referee: Artur Manuel Ribeiro Soares Dias

Assistants: Rui Licínio Barbosa Tavares, Paulo Alexandre dos Santos Soares

Fourth Official: Hugo Filipe Ferreira de Campos

VAR: Tiago Bruno Lopes Martins

Assistant VAR: João Pedro da Silva Pinheiro

TV Info: BT Sport 3 (UK)

Live Stream: BT Sport Live (UK); Bleacher Report Live (USA)

Radio: BBC Radio 5 Live (UK)

Preview:

The UEFA Champions League has returned. Europe’s top 32 clubs will compete against one another in the Champions League group stages. In Group C, Manchester City were paired with Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk, Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb and Italian team Atalanta.

Manchester City will visit Shakhtar Donetsk in the first round of the competition’s group stages.

Team News:

Shakhtar Donetsk will have a fully fit squad for this match.

Manchester City’s Aymeric Laporte and Leroy Sané are injured and will not feature in this match.

Possible Lineups:

Shakhtar Donetsk

Formation: 4-2-3-1

Pyatov; Bolbat, Kryvtsov, Matviyenko, Ismaily; Stepanenko, Patrick; Konoplyanka, Marlos, Taison; Moraes

Manager: Luís Castro

Manchester City

Formation: 4-3-3

Ederson; Walker, Stones, Fernandinho, Zinchenko; De Bruyne, Rodri, D. Silva; B. Silva, Agüero, Sterling

Manager: Pep Guardiola

Prediction:

Shakhtar Donetsk have started brilliantly in the 2019/20 Ukrainian Premier Liha season. The Miners won their opening seven matches and look unstoppable in the UPL. They will now turn to the Champions League as they host their English opponents on Wednesday.

Manchester City, on the other hand, recently slipped up in the 2019/20 English Premier League as they were shocked by Norwich City over the weekend. The Sky Blues will want to atone for this performance as they travel to Ukraine for their Champions League fixture.

Shakhtar and City previous drew each other in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 Champions League group stages, thus they are familiar with one another. During their previous encounters, Shakhtar won once and lost the other three. Moreover, Manchester City outscored their opponents by 12-1 and kept three clean sheets in the process. Thus, it would be a surprise if the visitors left Ukraine with anything other than a victory. The Miners are capable of challenging the Sky Blues, but by full time it is predicted Manchester City will have earned their first victory in this season’s Champions League.

Shakhtar Donetsk 2-3 Manchester City