Barcelona vs Shakhtar Donetsk prediction: EUROPE: Champions League – Group Stage betting tips on match 2023-10-24 16:45.
Seventeen-year-old sensation Marc Guiu scored under a minute into his debut as Barcelona defeated Athletic Bilbao 1-0 on Sunday to move within a point of La Liga leaders Real Madrid, while extending their unbeaten start to the season (W9, D3). In scoring that winner, Guiu became the youngest player to debut with a goal for the Catalans in the 21st century, but focus quickly shifts to Europe as they come into matchday three with a 100% win record and a three-point lead atop Group H.
A win here would vastly increase their chances of progressing to the round of 16, something which eluded them in the last two UEFA Champions League (UCL) campaigns. An uninspiring nine-game run in home matches of this competition (W3, D2, L4) doesn’t particularly breed confidence, but ahead of the visit of Shakhtar Donetsk, Barça have won eight of 11 home matches against Ukrainian clubs (D1, L2).
Shakhtar Donetsk won 3-0 against LNZ in the Ukrainian Premier League at the weekend to stay within touching distance of the leaders with a game in hand. They’ll be targeting a continuation of that momentum in Europe as they aim for a first round of 16 appearance in this competition since 2017/18. Shakhtar started their group campaign with a 3-1 loss but produced a gutsy display in their second outing to battle from 2-0 down to beat Antwerp 3-2.
The Pitmen now have a chance to post consecutive UCL group stage wins for the first time since February 2018 after that matchday two victory. Given that win was only their second success across their last nine away UCL group games (D2, L5) though, it will seemingly take another miraculous display here to cause a seismic UCL upset.
Players to watch: İlkay Gündoğan, who assisted Barcelona’s opener in their two UCL matches this season, has five goal contributions (G2, A3) in six games against Shakhtar. Hoping to counteract his input, Danylo Sikan opened and closed Shakhtar’s scoring in the 3-2 win over Antwerp, whilst warming up for this trip with a goal in their last match.
Hot stat: The six previous UCL H2Hs have seen one side leading ‘to nil’ at half-time, with each team doing so on three occasions.