Manchester United vs Shakhtar Donetsk
UEFA Champions League, Group A
Tuesday 10th December, 2013
19:45 KO (BST)
Old Trafford, Manchester
Group A
United: P5 W3 D2 L0 F11 A3 Pts11
Shakhtar: P5 W2 D2 L1 F7 A5 Pts8
Leverkusen: P5 W2 D1 L2 F8 A10 Pts7
Sociedad: P5 W0 D1 L4 F1 A9 Pts1
United (1st)
“The players are hurting because they are used to winning. When they don’t win, that hurts them as they care very much about their team and their club. They are good lads and will respond in the right way.” – David Moyes.
“Hopefully we get more goals from the wingers as well, which is important, and the midfielders. But it is important that this partnership (with Wayne Rooney) is growing and becoming even stronger.” – Robin van Persie.
Starting XI from: David de Gea, Anders Lindegaard, Sam Johnstone; Rafael da Silva, Fabio da Silva, Rio Ferdinand, Jonny Evans, Phil Jones, Alex Buttner; Antonio Valencia, Nani, Ashley Young, Adnan Januzaj, Wilfried Zaha, Ryan Giggs, Anderson, Tom Cleverley, Shinji Kagawa; Danny Welbeck, Javier Hernandez, Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney
Doubts: Nemanja Vidic, Chris Smalling, Patrice Evra, Marouane Fellaini (back)
Unavailable: Michael Carrick (Achilles), Darren Fletcher (not registered)
Top scorer(s): Wayne Rooney, Antonio Valencia (2)
Group A home record: P2 W2 D0 L0 F5 A2 Pts6
Group A home form: W W
Shakhtar (2nd)
“We have only one option: we need to defeat Manchester United. We will do everything possible to achieve this.” – Mircea Lucescu.
Starting XI from:Pyatov, Kanibolotskiy, Kucher, Shevchuk, Rakitskiy, Srna, Kryvtsov, Stepanenko, Fred, Bernard, Costa, Teixeira, Hubschman, Fernando, Eduardo, Ferreyra, Taison, Adriano
Doubts: n/a
Unavailable: n/a
Top scorer: Alex Teixeira (3)
Group A away record: P2 W1 D0 L1 F2 A4 Pts3
Group A away form: W L
Previous meeting
Shakhtar 1-1 United (02-10-13)
Officials
Referee: Milorad Mažić (SRB)
The 40-year-old official has taken charge of three Champions League games this season, brandishing four yellow cards and awarding one penalty. He is yet to send a player off. Took charge of United’s 3-2 home win over Braga last season, where the Reds came back from 2-0 down.
Assistants: Milovan Ristić (SRB), Dalibor Djurdjević (SRB)
Fourth Official: Milan Minić (SRB)
Notes
United have already qualified from Group A, and will top the group if defeat is avoided.
Shakhtar will qualify if they better Leverkusen’s result, and can still top the group with a win at Old Trafford.
United are unbeaten in this season’s competition, and have kept three consecutive clean sheets.
Wayne Rooney (6) has more assists in this season’s Champions League than any other player.
The only time Shakhtar have avoided defeat in England was a 1-1 with Tottenham in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup Round of 32.
United are seeking a hat-trick of home wins in the UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time since 2007/08.
Score prediction: United 1-1 Shakhtar
