Shakhtar Donetsk v Inter: Champions League preview

MILAN - Simone Inzaghi’s Inter side are hard at work preparing to take on Roberto De Zerbi’s Shakhtar Donetsk on Matchday 2 of the UEFA Champions League 2021/22 on Tuesday.

Ahead of the 18:45 CEST kick-off in Kyiv, we’ve put our heads together to bring you all the key facts and stats on the match-up.

Progress so far in the league and Champions League

Both Inter and Shakhtar began their 2021/22 Champions League campaigns with a defeat. Shakhtar were beaten 2-0 away by debutants Sheriff, while Inter were undone by an 89th-minute Real Madrid winner at San Siro in their opener.

Inter are on 14 points so far in Serie A, having drawn their most recent game 2-2 against Atalanta. As things stand, it’s four wins, two draws and zero defeats for the Nerazzurri, with 20 goals scored and seven conceded.

Shakhtar began their 2021/22 European campaign in the third qualifying round, after they finished as the runners-up in their domestic league last season. Back-to-back 2-1 wins over Genk both home and away saw De Zerbi’s men advance to the play-offs, where they beat Monaco 1-0 in the away leg before drawing 2-2 after extra-time at home to qualify for the group stages.

With nine games played in the Ukrainian league, Shakhtar currently sit second on 22 points – three shy of Dinamo Kyiv. De Zerbi’s side have a record of seven wins, one draw and one defeat, with 23 goals scored and five conceded.

Previous meetings

Inter and Shakhtar faced off in the group stages of the last season’s Champions League, with both matches finishing in 0-0 draws – results that ultimately cost the Nerazzurri their place in the competition. Before that, Inter had faced Shakhtar on three previous occasions. There was the Europa League semi-final in 2020, when the Nerazzurri ran out comfortable 5-0 winners. And a few years before that, there had been a double match-up in the Champions League third qualifying round back in 2005. Inter won 2-0 in Ukraine before securing a 1-1 draw at San Siro to advance.

Did you know?

Shakhtar are competing in the UEFA Champions League group stages for the 16th time. They got to the quarter-finals in the 2010/11 edition of the competition, but have failed to make it out of the group on 11 of their last 15 appearances – including their last three.

Inter are unbeaten in 11 UEFA matches against Ukrainian opposition, with six wins and five draws. The draw against Shakhtar last season put an end to a run of four straight wins against teams from Ukraine. The Nerazzurri have won three of their five away games against Ukrainian sides, with the only exceptions being the 1-1 draw away at Dinamo Kyiv in the 2003/04 Champions League group stages and the most recent trip to face Shakhtar.

As a coach, De Zerbi has taken on Inter seven times in Serie A, including six matches as Sassuolo manager (one win, two draws and three defeats) and one during his time at Benevento (a 2-0 defeat).

Marlon played for De Zerbi at Sassuolo between 2018 and 2021, making 65 appearances in Serie A. He was a team-mate of Stefano Sensi at Sassuolo in the 2018/19 season.

International clashes

Inter’s Denzel Dumfries scored the winner for Holland in their 3-2 defeat of Ukraine, whose squad including Shakhtar’s Mykola Matviyenko and Marlos, during the group stages of UEFA Euro 2020 on 13 June 2021. Stefan de Vrij started that game for Holland.

Nicolo Barella made his Italy debut in a 1-1 friendly draw against a Ukraine side featuring Shakhtar’s Andriy Pyatov, Matviyenko, Marlos, Yevhen Konoplyanka, Taras Stepanenko and Serhiy Kryvtsov on 10 October 2018.

Konoplyanka scored for Ukraine against Milan Skriniar’s Slovakia in the latter’s 4-1 UEFA Nations League win on 16 November 2018.