Renowned Ukrainian journalist and commentator Roberto Morales shared his expectations of the first leg of the Europa League 1/8 finals between Shakhtar Donetsk and the Dutch Feyenoord, which will be held today in Warsaw.
Roberto Morales"The start of the second part of the UPL championship for Shakhtar is like a soccer simulator. Without any problems we crushed Minay and Metalist 1925 with a total score of 11-1. We changed the squad, rotated the squad, we did everything we wanted and could.
Shakhtar have serious problems with defenders, because only Mykola Matvienko from the basics was left for this match. Contrary to all the achievements in the last game, the option of playing Jaroslav Rakitskiy in the starting lineup seems suicidal. There will always be options on the counterattack. Shakhtar's trumps certainly do not look more powerful than those of their opponents, but you should get used to it; you certainly can't take new heights from a position of strength.
The Rotterdam side are leading in their league. It should be noted that the fight there is quite fierce and there are really four teams who claim the title. In addition to Feyenoord, they are AZ, Ajax and PSV. Shakhtar's opponents have shown their class last season - the team reached the finals of the Conference League and lost there to Roma. But Mourinho's charges played for results, which they got. After the renovation in the off-season Feyenoord became a little more balanced than before - the emergence of central defender David Ganco and the strong progress of center-back Orkun Kokcu greatly inspired the team," Morales said.
