The two sides were regular opponents in the days of the Soviet Union and have met three times since in a pre-season friendly tournament held in Israel, with Shakhtar prevailing 3-1 in their most recent encounter in January.
The match will be the first meeting in European competition between CSKA and Shakhtar, the latter of whom dropped into the UEFA Cup from the Champions League group stages. Both CSKA and Shakhtar eliminated English teams, as they profited from the fact that Aston Villa and Tottenham were concentrated on their domestic competitions.
Team News
CSKA’s Tomas Necid is ineligible for this encounter, although coach Zico will be boosted by news that there are no suspension worries. Yury Zhirkov, though, is one booking away from missing a match. The side generally line up in a 4-2-3-1, with Vagner Love leading the line.
For Shakhtar, other than the doubtful Mykola Ischenko, there are no real injury worries, with Dmytro Chygrynskyy recovering in time to take part. Lucescu has recently been experimenting with a lone forward formation in both the UEFA Cup and the league, and could try the same again here. There are no suspensions, but Dmytro Chygrynskyy, Tomas Hubschman, Oleksandr Kucher and Darijo Srna are all one yellow card away from missing the second leg.
Prediction
These two sides have plenty of energy, given the make-up of their domestic seasons, and this historical game will be taken lightly by neither. But in the end CSKA Moscow have enough strength to manage a convincing home win – not convincing enough, though, to render the second leg anything less than a contest…
My prediction: CSKA Moscow -1/2
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