Not even Shakhtar Donetsk’s highlight video could mask the fact that last Thursday’s first leg in Lviv between Shakhtar and Schalke 04 was a dull affair. Perhaps, of the most memorable parts of the match, one was a free kick for Schalke five metres from the goal after Shakhtar keeper Andriy Pyatov handled a back pass—Schalke, however, failed to convert from five metres out.
The other major incident involved Shakhtar defender Oleksandr Kucher being sent off after he received a second yellow card in the 86th minute. He will now miss the second leg in Gelsenkirchen. The remainder of the game was focused on Shakhtar keeper Pyatov, and Schalke 04 keeper Ralf Fährmann, as both made some fabulous saves.
Despite the less than riveting nature of the game, there is hope that Schalke 04 vs Shakhtar Donetsk 2.0 will be a better a better match in Gelsenkirchen this Thursday. The Germans especially will have to play to win the match, as any draw higher than 0-0 will result in Shakhtar going through in regular time.
For Schalke, however, this has been a tumultuous week as the club officially announced that they will part with their long time sporting director Horst Heldt at the end of the season—he has been in charge since March 2011. Heldt will be replaced by 1. FSV Mainz legend Christian Heidel. Heidel not only discovered the current Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp, and Borussia Dortmund’s current coach Thomas Tuchel, but also turned Mainz from a lowly second Bundesliga team to one of the most stable clubs in German football—Mainz are currently seventh in the Bundesliga’s five year standing—while only using a small budget.
The transfer has been a long time coming as the rumour mill about Heidel joining Schalke had been in overdrive since the fall. With the deal done, Schalke fans hoped that the club would stabilize, but a 1-1 tie on the weekend against VfB Stuttgart means that Schalke remains outside the Bundesliga’s top four and, therefore, not in a Champions League spot.
For Shakhtar, this means that they will travel to Germany knowing that they are facing a club that, despite having resolved the club structure in the summer, remains in an awkward situation—where only a string of victories can truly quiet their critical fan base. Hence, Shakhtar will be facing a German club that is hell-bent on victory, whilst only needing to secure a tie in which the Ukrainians score at least one goal.
This sentiment was echoed by Shakhtar captain, Darijo Srna, who told the media, “If we take into the account the fact that we have not played official matches for two months, and the fact that we have lost Alex Teixeira, we can be satisfied [with the result]. We had chances, Schalke had theirs too—so the final result is fair. But I think that this result is more comfortable for us than for the opponents. I am sure my team will be able to score on the road, but we will need to be well prepared, replace Kucher and move forward!”
Shakhtar’s head coach Mircea Lucescu echoed this sentiment when he told the media, “The score of 0-0 gives us a chance of reaching the next stage. We had expected a difficult game, so it happened. One could feel the difference between a team who had played many official matches in the league, and our side—we had not played a single official match.”
Indeed Shakhtar should feel confident that they can both score and secure a tie in Germany, which would be enough to see them through to the next round. The Ukrainians achieved a decent result in their first match, and now firmly hold the advantage going into Germany, especially with the typical background music that always seems to accompany Schalke. The game is Shakhtar’s to lose.
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