Only a win will satisfy Lucescu

Their chances of finishing in the top two may be over but Mircea Lucescu has demanded FC Shakhtar Donetsk defeat FC Basel 1893 for a second time in Group C to guarantee themselves a place in the UEFA Cup.

Promising start
Things looked good for the Ukrainian champions when they left St. Jakob-Park with a 2-1 win in September, only for three successive losses to end their hopes of qualifying for the knockout stage. Now they are playing for third position in the group. With a two-point advantage over their Swiss opponents with two rounds left, Lucescu's side are well-placed to claim that spot and entry to the last 32 of the UEFA Cup, yet the Romanian still expects a testing night in Donetsk. "It will be a very difficult game as Basel are a very strong team with a lot of tall, physical players," he said. "They will have an advantage in the air so we must play fast football with the ball at our feet, to take control. If the players stick to our plan, I think we'll beat Basel. Nothing but a win will please me or our supporters."

Defensive concern
Shakhtar will be without the suspended Brandão, and centre-back Dmytro Chygrynskiy is nursing a thigh injury sustained in training. "There's only a slight chance he'll be available," conceded Lucescu, who has Volodymyr Yezerskiy and Mykola Ischenko standing by. "That would be a big loss as he is our best player in the air." Fernandinho, who scored in the reverse fixture, and Darijo Srna are both fit after resting muscle strains, while Luiz Adriano proved his form after a bout of appendicitis by registering in Friday's 2-0 defeat of FC Lviv. That result made it three successive Premier League victories, including one against arch-rivals FC Dynamo Kyiv, since the loss to Sporting Clube de Portugal on Matchday 4. "We're in good spirits as we feel we have the strength to win this game," said Lucescu. "We have had good domestic results, and that boosts our confidence."

'Getting better'
Basel are also much improved from the teams' previous meeting, and on Saturday extended their unbeaten sequence to six games as a 4-0 thrashing of FC Thun sent them into the Swiss Cup semi-finals. Coach Christian Gross is braced for "the most difficult match of this campaign", but remains far from overawed. "We're optimistic as we've analysed our mistakes from the first encounter and we know not to reproduce them," he said. "We're getting better game by game, and I believe my players can get the better of the very skilful Brazilians in the Shakhtar midfield."

In-form Derdiyok
With Scott Chipperfield, Marcos Gelabert, Ronny Hodel, Michel Morganella and Olivier Stöckli already on the casualty list, Gross could have done without Marco Streller's involvement being threatened by flu. His saving grace could be Eren Derdiyok, the 20-year-old who followed up his goal in the draw at FC Barcelona with a weekend hat-trick. "It's a chance for Derdiyok to make a name for himself, but he's not alone in carrying the attacking burden," added Gross, who also cited Carlitos, Valentin Stocker and Marko Perović as threats.