Shakhtar Donetsk vs Celtic

The Stadion Wojska Polskiego, home of Polish side Legia Warsaw, is the venue as Shakhtar Donetsk and Celtic face each other in an exciting Champions League encounter.

Shakhtar Donetsk’s bid to progress beyond the Champions League group stages for the first time since 2017/18 received a massive boost after the Ukrainian powerhouse thumped RB Leipzig 4-1 in their curtain-raising Group F outing. Playing this ‘home’ game in Poland should not trouble the ‘Miners,’ considering each of their three home league matches this term took place upwards of 700km away from Donetsk, with Shakhtar going unbeaten in all three (W2, D1). Adding to Shakhtar’s confidence, they have won both previous Champions League home meetings with Celtic by 2+ goals ‘to nil.’ Keen to open a new Champions League campaign with back-to-back wins for the first time since 2010/11 and potentially register three consecutive victories against an opponent in European competition for the third time.

In the meantime, Celtic put on a promising first-half display against Real Madrid on matchday one but eventually ended up on the wrong side of a 3-0 scoreline. A disheartening defeat to the reigning Champions League holders halted the Scottish champions’ 100% seven-game start to the 2022/23 season, derailing their hopes of making it out of the competition’s group stages for the first time since 2012/13. Thursday’s trip to Warsaw will mark Celtic’s first away game in the Champions League since a 7-1 thumping at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain in November 2017. In fact, the ‘Hoops’ have only kept one clean sheet in their 33 Champions League fixtures on hostile turf, courtesy of a 3-0 beating of Anderlecht in 2017/18. Topically, Ange Postecoglou’s first-choice goalkeeper Joe Hart has registered just one shutout in his last 13 Champions League away appearances.