Preview: Athletic v Shakhtar Donetsk

Preview: Athletic v Shakhtar Donetsk
Published: Tuesday 16 September 2014, 20.11CET
Ernesto Valverde urges Athletic Club to be back with a bang as they start their second group stage campaign against an FC Shakhtar Donetsk side in familiar surroundings.
by Iñigo Marin
from Bilbao

Preview: Athletic v Shakhtar Donetsk
Ernesto Valverde is happy to be starting at home
Suspensions and injuries

Reported player injuries

Last updated: 16/09/2014 18:19 CET
Tournament statistics
Athletic
Athletic
Shakhtar Donetsk
Shakhtar Donetsk
        
Full standingsAll groups
Matches

16 September 2014

17 September 2014
G    Chelsea    Chelsea    20:45    Schalke    Schalke
H    Porto    Porto    20:45    BATE    BATE
E    Roma    Roma    20:45    CSKA Moskva    CSKA Moskva
E    Bayern    Bayern    20:45    Man. City    Man. City
F    Barcelona    Barcelona    20:45    APOEL    APOEL
F    Ajax    Ajax    20:45    Paris    Paris
G    Maribor    Maribor    20:45    Sporting    Sporting
H    Athletic    Athletic    20:45    Shakhtar Donetsk    Shakhtar Donetsk
All matches


 

• Ernesto Valverde eager for winning start against "dangerous" Shakhtar side
• Athletic's coach pleased to be beginning at their newly completed home
• The Pitmen kicked off last year's group stage with 2-0 victory at Real Sociedad
• Shakhtar have won eight out of eight in 2014/15, conceding only once
• Mircea Lucescu keen to expoit Shakhtar's UEA Champions League experience
Related Items

  
“
We are fortunate to be playing our first game at home, with the crowd behind us
Ernesto Valverde
”

Possible lineups
Athletic: Iraizoz; De Marcos, San José, Laporte, Balenziaga; Iturraspe, Mikel Rico; Susaeta, Beñat, Muniain; Aduriz.
• Out: None

Shakhtar: Kanibolotskiy, Srna, Kucher, Rakitskiy, Azevedo, Stepanenko, Fernando, Douglas Costa, Teixeira, Taison, Adriano.
• Out: None

Ernesto Valverde, Athletic coach
"We are fortunate to be playing our first game at home, with the crowd behind us". We have to make the most of it, to make a good start by claiming all three points. Victory is our objective. A win would be a massive step and we will do everything to get it.

Shakhtar are a dangerous team going forward. They usually take the initiative and they have very fast players in attack, like Douglas and Teixeira. We have to be very careful because they are good and dangerous when they get space, and they are used to winning. That's a big plus for them.

They are good on the counterattack but they also know how to defend. We have to be patient to break down their defensive system. They are in good form, a long way clear at the top of the Ukrainian league, and with a relatively settled side. All their players who played here last year against La Real are still here. We have watched that game a lot.


Mircea Lucescu, Shakhtar coach
The important thing is to reach the Champions League and that's why every year we try to do well in our championship, to return to the Champions League.

Our group stage in the Champions League starts at San Mamés, where there is a great atmosphere, and we hope our performance will allow us to move forward in the Champions League.

We'll try to play to win and we feel the responsibility to represent our fans. But what concerns us now is the Champions League and to win at Athletic, a very strong team.

We have analysed Athletic – their play-off tie against Napoli and other videos. Athletic have players with some specific qualities, such as Beñat and [Ander] Iturraspe, and they know how to use them. But we believe we can draw on our experience in Champions League matches.