Real Madrid – Shakhtar: The battle of the group F leaders

October 5th. 22:00. Madrid, Santgo Bernabeu.
Match broadcast – MEGOGO and Volia TV platform

After two rounds of the Champions League group stage, Shakhtar is in second place in Quartet F. Thanks to a sensational victory over Leipzig (1:4) and a draw with Celtic (1:1), Pitmen is getting closer to the matches against Real. Madrid “has the status of one of the leaders of the group.

FC Shakhtar’s title partner and first legal bookie Parimatch Ukraine determined the favourites. Experts are confident that Real Madrid will easily take the three points and remain the leader of the group. The coefficient of 1.19 was determined for the victory of the “creamy” ones. In this case, the most likely score is 2:0. The miners’ chances of success at the Santiago Bernabéu are estimated at 15.00 to 1. The probability of a draw is 7.90.

Despite the fact that Shakhtar has already surprised everyone with the results of the European Cup, such an assessment of the experts is objective. And first of all, it concerns the class of teams, the experience and individual qualities of the players.

luck for lunin

The current Champions League trophy winner started the new season with victory just as he finished the previous season. Madrid won the UEFA Super Cup against Eintracht Frankfurt, 6 of the 7 opening games in La Liga and both games in the Champions League group stage. In the summer, Madrid managed to get rid of the “ballast” in the form of Jovic, Isco and even Ballet, and unexpectedly for all fans of the “creamy” they beat the star trio Modric – Kroos – Casemiro, leaving the Brazilian to Manchester United. Irreplaceable, of course, no. Valverde is gaining momentum and experience, Cebayos moves a little less broadly, but Madrid has no problem in the middle of the pitch due to the fantastic form of the Croatian-German connection. He was easily placed in the center of the defense and as the summer rookie of Real Madrid Rudiger. The German, who went to Madrid for free, took part in all the matches of the new team this season.

Real Madrid is approaching the Shakhtar match with almost full war preparation. The only troubling issue is the possible absence of Thibault Courtois. Belgian goalkeeper missed the last round of Örnekler due to sciatica. The timing of his recovery has not been reported, but it is likely that he will not play in the next Champions League game. And this, with all the desire for health for Courtois, may result in double joy for Ukrainian football fans. Firstly, the best goalkeeper in the world will not play against Pitmen, and secondly, the goalkeeper of the Ukrainian national team Andriy Lunin should take his place in the goal. On Sunday, Lunin played for the first time at the Santiago Bernabeu, conceding a goal from Osasuna and Real Madrid’s first draw this season, dropping to second place in the Spanish Championship standings. The Ukrainian had his fair share, but this match can definitely be attributed to him as a plus.

Jovicic’s Return to Madrid

As for Shakhtar, Jovićević’s team regained the league lead by beating Metalist 6-1 in the final round of the UPL. Man of the match Daniil Sikan scored his second hat-trick in a week. Prior to that, his goals helped the Ukrainian youth team beat the Euro 2023 qualifiers and reach the final part of the tournament. During the international break, Pitmen signed a new player, Yegor Nazarina joined the team. Of course, it was not announced for the Champions League, but the fact that miners continue to recruit young and promising players cannot but please. According to Transfermarkt, although the Real Madrid squad is 10 times more expensive than the Shakhtar squad, it is 837.5 million euros against 80.3 million.

It will be a special match with “creamy” for Pitmen’s head coach Igor Jovicevich. The Croatian specialist was perhaps the only one who wanted to break into Real Madrid’s rivals for two seasons in a row. This is because Jovićević knows the Madrid club from the inside and has played doubles for the Galacticos for four years. The Shakhtar coach still considers Real the best club in the world, despite promising a fight and making an effort to keep the Ukrainian fans happy. An acceptable away result for the Donetsk club might even be a draw, but Shakhtar and Real have never split points between themselves. The teams met 6 times, Madrid won 4, Pitmen won twice. These two historic matches were played during the COVID-19 pandemic season, with both teams losing their leaders due to illness. In Madrid, they didn’t even play at the Santiago Bernabeu, they played at the Real Madrid training base. But in any case, this result is historical and inspiring.

That’s why we support Shakhtar in the Champions League and support the Ukrainian club together with Parimatch Ukraine!