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Champions League favorites Barcelona only need to take care of formalities - not to be crushed in Donetsk, where ambitious Shakhtar will likely end the season in the strongest European tournament tonight.
Donetsk Shakhtar - Barcelona
"Donbass Arena", Donetsk
Referee: Florian Meyer (Germany)
21.45 Lithuanian time
Broadcast: TV6 (live)
First leg: Barcelona - Shakhtar 5-1
The hopes that Ukrainians will perform a miracle are not increased by the fact that captain Dario Srna, as well as Aleksandar Kucher and Dmytro Chygrynskyi, due to injury, will not play, and Razvan Rotar is suspended.
Barcelona also does not arrive in full strength - injured defender Carles Puyol, health problems for Eric Abidal, missing from the lineup is also forward Bojan Krkic. Andres Iniesta will not play either, as he is suspended.
Despite the impressive result last week, Barcelona forward Pedro was not inclined to rejoice early: "Although we will defend a good result, it will be extremely difficult. Anything can happen in 90 minutes. Especially given that the opponents have a great team.
"But we will not change our style - we will attack and score goals."
The Donetsk team would only become the fourth in the history of the tournament to recover from a four-goal deficit.
Meanwhile, Shakhtar, known for impressive home performance, unexpectedly lost 0-1 to Kiev's Obolon a few days ago.
"After a painful defeat in Barcelona, we did not pay enough attention to the national championship," said coach Mircea Lucescu. "We failed to maintain concentration, so the Kiev team scored a late goal."
And added: "On Tuesday, we must remain focused throughout the entire match, otherwise we can pay dearly."
Probable starting lineups:
Shakhtar: Pyatov; Kobin, Ischenko, Rakitskiy, Shevchuk; Mkhitaryan, Hubschman; D. Costa, Jadson, Willian; Luiz Adriano
Barcelona: Pinto; Adriano, Pique, Milito, Maxwell; Xavi, Busquets, Keita; Messi, Villa, Afellay.
