Shakhtar Donetsk vs Marseille Prediction & Betting Tips - Europa League

Prediction published on 15/02/2024, 08:45  by Daniel Ngulu | Modified on 15/02/2024 at 09:17 in Europa League Predictions

After dropping down from the Champions League, Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk will hope to progress in the Europa League. Playing in Germany, Shakhtar will be hosting Olympique Marseille in the first leg of their knockout round playoff. The Ukrainian side finished third in their Champions League group. They go into this break right from a lengthy winter break in their domestic league. It means their last competitive action was the 5-3 loss to FC Porto in December. Despite elimination from the Champions League, Shakhtar had a memorable run at the group stage. Their nine points were the highest of any eliminated side, plus they had an impressive win over Barcelona in the process. They have since played seven friendly matches, and won three. In their last five matches, competitively, the Porto game was their only loss. They scored at least twice in their last three competitive matches. The Europa League isn’t new for the Miners but they’ll hope to avoid a recurrence of last season. At the last 16 stage in 2022/23, they were thumped 8-2 on aggregate by Feyenoord. That made it six games in the Europa League without a clean sheet.

Olympique Marseille will be meeting Shakhtar Donetsk for the first time since 2009. That was also a Europa League tie, which Shakhtar won home and away and went on to win the title. The French side therefore has the perfect platform for revenge. They’ve however been in poor form coming into the game. In their last five matches, they have no win, though they lost once. Gennaro Gattuso’s side drew 1-1 with Metz in the last game, throwing away the lead in a game they also finished with 10 men. In four of their last five matches, both teams scored and Marseille have just one clean sheet in 10 games. They failed to score in just two of their last 10 matches. To get here, Marseille finished second in Group B of the Europa League. A 1-0 away loss to Brighton saw them miss top spot and will be hoping they can progress here. In their six group games, Les Phoceens managed just one clean sheet. Both teams scored in four of the six matches.