UEFA Europa League: Shakhtar Donetsk vs Sevilla preview

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April 27th, 2016
Back UEFA Europa League: Shakhtar Donetsk vs Sevilla preview

Shakhtar Donetsk will be looking for revenge when they meet Sevilla in the Europa League semi-finals on Thursday. Nine years ago the same two teams met in the UEFA Cup and it ended quite badly for the Ukrainian side. The first leg ended 2-2 in Spain and in the second leg Shakhtar were leading 2-1 as the match entered stoppage time. But a last-gasp corner kick brought goalkeeper Andres Palop in the penalty area, and the goalie scored to send the match into extra time. With better morale on their side, Sevilla won in extra time and went on to lift the trophy at the end of the season.

Shakhtar Donetsk have only the Europa League to look forward to as the season comes closer to its end, their domestic league campaign will most likely end in failure as rivals Dynamo Kyiv will clinch the title. Shakhtar are coming from five consecutive Europa League wins, including a double success over Braga in the quarter-finals. Yaroslav Rakitskiy will be available again after suspension, but Marcio Azevedo remains injured.

Sevilla are looking to win this competition three times in a row after winning it twice consecutively on two occasions already. They have only lost one of their last 16 matches in the Europa League. But they had a tough time in the previous round as they needed a penalty shoot-out to prevail over fellow Primera Liga side Athletic Bilbao. Last weekend they won the local derby against Betis 2-0. Marco Andreolli, Benoit Tremoulinas and Vitolo are injured, while Daniel Carrico and Adil Rami might recover in time.

Probable line-ups:

Shakhtar: Pyatov - Srna, Kucher, Rakitskiy, Ismaily - Malyshev, Stepanenko - Marlos, Kovalenko, Taison - Ferreyra

Sevilla: Soria - Mariano, Carrico, Kolodziejczak, Escudero - N'Zonzi, Krychowiak - Konoplyanka, Banega, Krohn-Delhi - Gameiro

My prediction: Shakhtar to win 1-0.

Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:

Shakhtar win - 2.70 Draw - 3.40 Sevilla win - 2.75

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