FC Shakhtar Donetsk - SL Benfica MATCH PRESS KIT RSC Olympiyskiy Stadium, Donetsk Tuesday 4 December 2007 - 20.45 CET Group D - Matchday 6
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FC Shakhtar Donetsk - SL Benfica MATCH PRESS KIT RSC Olympiyskiy Stadium, Donetsk Tuesday 4 December 2007 - 20.45 CET Group D - Matchday 6 Contents 1 - Match background 7 - UEFA information 2 - Match facts 8 - Match-by-match lineups 3 - Squad list 9 - Competition facts 4 - Head coach 10 - Team facts 5 - Match officials 11 - Competition information 6 - Domestic information 12 - Legend Match background FC Shakhtar Donetsk go into the final round of Group D fixtures needing three points from their home game against SL Benfica – together with some good news from Italy. • Shakhtar's 2-1 defeat at Celtic FC on 28 November left them in third place in the group with only an outside chance of advancing to the first knockout round. Shakhtar will take second place if they beat Benfica and Celtic, three points better off at present, lose at AC Milan. • Such a scenario would leave both Shakhtar and Celtic on nine points, with the Ukrainian team progressing thanks to their better head-to-head record. • Although bottom of the group and out of the running for the last 16, Benfica have their own incentive as victory in Donetsk would lift them above Shakhtar into third place, thus gaining them entry into the last 32 of the UEFA Cup. • The two concluding matches in Group D are being played on 4 December, one week before the remaining Matchday 6 fixtures, because of Milan's participation in the FIFA Club World Cup which runs from 7 to 16 December in Japan. • Shakhtar succumbed to a 92nd-minute winner from Celtic's Massimo Donati in Glasgow on Matchday 5. Mircea Lucescu's team took a fourth-minute lead through Brandão but Jiří Jarošík levelled on the stroke of half-time and Donati completed the turnaround at the death. • That was Shakhtar's third successive loss in the competition following home and away reverses against Milan – 4-1 at San Siro on Matchday 3, then 3-0 at the RSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium. • The Ukrainian club began their campaign with a 2-0 home success against Celtic – Brandão and Cristiano Lucarelli the scorers – and followed that up by winning at Benfica on Matchday 2, Jadson netting the only goal after 42 minutes. • Shakhtar have remained stuck on six points ever since that victory in Lisbon and, curiously, this has been their final points' tally on each of their three previous appearances in the group stage in 2000/01, 2004/05 and 2006/07. Last updated 04.12.2007 9:15:55CET Match background 1 FC Shakhtar Donetsk - SL Benfica Tuesday 4 December 2007 - 20.45 CET MATCH PRESS KIT RSC Olympiyskiy Stadium, Donetsk • Shakhtar have never reached the last 16 and went into their final game of last season's group stage in a similar position to now: they needed to win their match at Olympiacos CFP and for Roma to lose at home to Valencia CF. As it was, they drew their game and Roma won. • Benfica drew 1-1 at home to Milan on Matchday 5, Maxi Pereira striking in the 20th minute to cancel out Andrea Pirlo's opener five minutes earlier. • José Antonio Camacho's team began their campaign with a 2-1 defeat in Milan but after then losing to Shakhtar, they revived their hopes on Matchday 3 by beating Celtic 1-0 through Óscar Cardozo's 87th-minute strike. After losing 1-0 at Celtic Park, however, their elimination was confirmed by the 1-1 draw with Milan. • Benfica have met Ukrainian opposition on five previous occasions, winning three games and losing two. • They won on their first visit to Ukraine, beating FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 3-0 to secure a 4-0 aggregate triumph in the 1989/90 European Champion Clubs' Cup quarter-finals. Their second visit in the tournament's group stage in November 1991 brought a 1-0 defeat by FC Dynamo Kyiv and featured a substitute's appearance from a 19-year-old Rui Costa. • Shakhtar have played five games against Portuguese sides, winning two, drawing two and losing one. • Both their previous home games against visitors from Portugal ended in draws: 1-1 with FC Porto in the 1983/84 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals (sealing a 4-3 aggregate loss), and 1-1 with Boavista FC in the first round in the 1997/98 edition of that competition (securing a 4-3 aggregate win). • Prior to this season, Shakhtar coach Lucescu had only come up against Portuguese opposition twice during his long career. His Romania side lost 1-0 against Portugal at the 1984 UEFA European Championship finals – a defeat that was partially avenged with a 3-2 friendly win in January 1985. • Lucescu and his Benfica counterpart Camacho had met in three games over the years before this season. They first met as players in the 1975/76 European Cup, with former defender Camacho's Real Madrid CF side beating former striker Lucescu's CS Dinamo Bucuresti side 4-1 at home before losing 1-0 in the second leg. • Lucescu was a coach by the time the two met again, with his Romania side earning their only point at the finals of the 1984 UEFA European Championship with a 1-1 draw against Spain. Camacho, still a player, would go on to reach the final, losing 2-0 to hosts France. Match facts Shakhtar • Five Shakhtar players have appeared in all nine UEFA Champions League games so far this season, including qualifying: Andriy Pyatov, Răzvan Raţ, Jadson, Darijo Srna and Brandão. • Mariusz Lewandowski's next appearance in UEFA club competition will be his 50th. • Fernandinho is available again having served a one-match ban against Celtic after collecting his third yellow card of the competition on Matchday 4, while Srna and Brandão are both a booking away from suspension. • Fernandinho has had eleven shots wide so far, the joint-highest total in the competition along with Luis Fabiano and Benfica's Rui Costa. Last updated 04.12.2007 9:15:55CET Match facts 2 FC Shakhtar Donetsk - SL Benfica Tuesday 4 December 2007 - 20.45 CET MATCH PRESS KIT RSC Olympiyskiy Stadium, Donetsk • Shakhtar's match at FC Zorya Luhansk, which was scheduled for Saturday, has been postponed until the spring after a request from the Donetsk club. Their inactivity at the weekend allowed FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk to move two points clear in the Ukrainian Premier League standings thanks to their 3-0 win at FC Metalurh Donetsk. • Shakhtar will next be in domestic action on 8 December, when they visit FC Vorskla Poltava in the first leg of their Ukrainian Cup quarter-final tie. The return match will now take place four days later. • Pyatov, Fernandinho and Olexandr Gladkiy have featured in every one of Shakhtar's 17 league games this season with Pyatov playing all 1,530 minutes. • Fourteen of Shakhtar's 36 league goals this season have been scored in the first 15 minutes of the second half, compared to just one in the first quarter-hour of the match. • The Donetsk club have conceded just 12 league goals so far, the best defensive record in the league, and are yet to concede in the first 15 minutes of a game. • Former BV Vitesse sporting director Jan Streuer has been appointed head of scouting at Shakhtar. • On 23 November, Forever With Shakhtar, a book written by the club's former vice-president Mark Levitskiy, was published. The book deals with Levitskiy's view of Shakhtar's history and tells the stories of the people who devote their lives to the club. • Srna was voted Shakhtar's most accessible player in a poll on the official club website. The Croatian international right-back collected 42 per cent of the vote, in which 1,673 people took part. • The match with Benfica will be the last for Shakhtar's current logo, which was designed by Donetsk artist Viktor Savelov 20 years ago. The club will unveil a new one the day after the game, on 5 December. • Brandão is Shakhtar's record goalscorer in UEFA club competition with his goal at Celtic Park his 14th for the club. • Lewandowski has been reflecting on the defeat at Celtic, saying: "It is hard to say what qualities we were missing in Glasgow, especially as we conceded goals right at the end of both the first and second halves. We did not play that badly in defence and midfield, but that was not enough. We lacked a bit of luck; Celtic did not have too many attacks but had two chances and scored twice. It is very disheartening. Yes, we did not have many shots on goal either, but the final result does not seem fair to me." Benfica • Five Benfica players have appeared in all seven UEFA Champions League games so far this season, including qualifying: Quim, Léo, Konstantinos Katsouranis, Rui Costa and Óscar Cardozo. • Augustin Binya will serve the second of a six-match suspension against Shakhtar while Cardozo's next yellow card will incur a suspension after bookings on Matchdays 1 and 2. • Rui Costa has had eleven shots wide so far, the joint-highest total in the competition along with Luis Fabiano and Shakhtar's Fernandinho. • Nuno Assis celebrated his 30th birthday on 25 November. Last updated 04.12.2007 9:15:55CET Match facts 3 FC Shakhtar Donetsk - SL Benfica Tuesday 4 December 2007 - 20.45 CET MATCH PRESS KIT RSC Olympiyskiy Stadium, Donetsk • Benfica suffered a first defeat of the Liga season on Saturday night, going down 1-0 at home to leaders FC Porto with Ricardo Quaresma scoring the only goal three minutes before half-time.