Rennes vs Shakhtar Donetsk prediction: EUROPE: Europa League – Play Offs betting tips on match 2023-02-22 20:00.
Rennes’ unbeaten journey in this edition of the UEFA Europa League (UEL) came to an end in Warsaw last week when they suffered a third consecutive away defeat (2-1) in the post-group stage knockout period of a European competition. They now have no choice but to improve upon their group stage loss to Dynamo Kyiv (2-1) earlier in the season when taking on fellow Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk looking for their first win in three attempts against them (L2).
An eight-game unbeaten stretch at home in UEFA football (W4, D4) is a good starting platform for this task, particularly after they sharpened up with a 2-0 Ligue 1 defeat of Clermont at Roazhon Park at the weekend to remain in the hunt for qualifying for the next UEL, but Rennes could certainly do without conceding at home in a European match for what would be a sixth consecutive time.
Despite dropping down from the first-tier UEFA Champions League (UCL) group stage into this UEL knockout round playoff, Shakhtar were triumphant underdogs at home. Perhaps their odds were due to a period of nearly three months without competitive football owing to the World Cup and winter breaks, but they kept fit with several club friendlies and swept aside any concerns of rust with an 11th minute match opener in Warsaw.
Manager Igor Jovićević recently stated his side are “motivated to show the same fight the (Ukrainian) soldiers show” in their ongoing war and it is perhaps that inspiration that could lead them into the UEL Round of 16 for the third time in four seasons. A stalemate is all they need, and having taken a win or draw home from the majority of their trips to France (W5, D1, L3) in all UEFA competitions, history is also in their favour.
Players to watch: Amine Gouiri played only 16 minutes against Clermont at the weekend and should be fresh and firing after scoring in his last two competitive home starts for Rennes. He was unsuccessful last round, but Oleksandr Zubkov remains Shakhtar’s only current player to score in two UEFA matches this season.
Hot stat: Six of Rennes’ seven UEFA games in 2022/23 saw both teams score.