Shakhtar Donetsk – Manchester City, Champions League Prediction

Shakhtar Donetsk have a new coach this year. He has a lot of experience. His name is Luis Castro and he has only led the Portuguese teams, so for the first time he now accepts the challenge away from home. Donetsk did not have a busy transfer summer, but they did attract a young, promising defender from Palmeiras second team, a tradition for the club to shop from Brazil. At the moment their form is very good and they break all teams in Ukraine with a handicap.

Man City had issues in the Champions League groups last season. Rather, they had some problems defending, but they won their matches and logically reached the 1st place. However, at the start they started with 1-2 loss from Lyon at home, which shocked the world. Another thing that shocked the world was their match with Norwich, lost by 2-3 over the weekend. The canaries broke the citizens, but the sky blues made absurd mistakes in defense, and in particular Otamendi.

After this failure, we begin to doubt the stability in defense of Man City. Yes, this is a team that has no problems even without key players like Aguero, Sane or de Bruyne – they have a big squad. But when it comes to the lack of a central defender like Laporte, it changes everything. They are no less powerful in attack, but Shakhtar is capable of scoring goals and is in top form. That is why we expect a more dynamic and open match with goals. Prediction – Over 2.5 goals 1.55.

• 3 of the last 4 games between City and Shakhtar have over 2.5 goals
• All Man City games have ended with more than 2.5 goals since the beginning of the season
• All of Shakhtar’s official games since the beginning of the season have over 2.5 goals