Omens favour Manchester City for Shakhtar visit

Manchester City FC and FC Shakhtar Donetsk both opened Group F with fine wins, although the portents point to a home victory at the City of Manchester Stadium on matchday two.

• While these teams have never met before, Shakhtar have lost all but one of their matches in England and may have their work cut out against a City side who equalled their biggest win in the UEFA Champions League – group stage to final – in their first game. That said, Shakhtar's recent away form in Europe has been imperious. 

Match background

Manchester City
• City are unbeaten in their last ten home matches in the UEFA Champions League (W7 D3), qualifying included, since a 2-1 defeat by Juventus on matchday one in 2015/16. That Juve loss was their fourth in six fixtures at the City of Manchester Stadium, with only one win in that run.

• Josep Guardiola's men took seven points at home in last season's group stage, beating VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach (4-0) and FC Barcelona (3-1) before a 1-1 draw with Celtic FC.

• City's only previous encounters with Ukrainian clubs came against Shakhtar's great rivals FC Dynamo Kyiv, whom they overcame 1-0 in Manchester in their 2010/11 UEFA Europa League round of 16 second leg (1-2 aggregate) and held 0-0 in the second leg of a 2015/16 UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie (3-1 aggregate).

• Third in last season's Premier League, City were 4-0 winners at Feyenoord on matchday one and are making a sixth successive UEFA Champions League appearance – they have progressed to the round of 16 or beyond in each of the last four campaigns.

• Last term, Guardiola's team came second in their section and lost on away goals to AS Monaco FC in the last 16 (5-3 home, 1-3 away).

Shakhtar
• The Ukrainian champions have lost on five of their six trips to England, avoiding defeat only on their second visit, a 1-1 draw at Tottenham Hotspur FC in a round of 32 second leg during their victorious UEFA Cup campaign of 2008/09 (3-1 aggregate).

• In those five defeats, Shakhtar scored six goals and conceded 14, including a 5-1 loss at Arsenal FC in the 2010/11 group stage. Their most recent English assignment was a 1-0 reverse at Manchester United FC in 2013/14.

• Shakhtar are unbeaten at home to Premier League clubs, however, with the record W4 D2. Home and away, it is W4 D3 L5 F18 A19.

• Shakhtar, who started 2017/18 with a 2-1 win at home to SSC Napoli on matchday one, are making their seventh group stage appearance in eight seasons and their 12th in total – all since 2000. They have got to the last 16 on three occasions: 2010/11 (when they reached the quarter-finals), 2012/13 and 2014/15.

• In 2016/17, the Ukrainian side lost to BSC Young Boys in the third qualifying round (2-0 home, 0-2 away, 2-4 on penalties). They eventually made it to the UEFA Europa League round of 32, going down to RC Celta de Vigo (1-0 away, 0-2 home aet).

• Shakhtar have won their last five European away games, and have picked up victories in eight of their last ten matches outside Ukraine, losing the other two.

Coach and player links
• Shakhtar's record European defeat was a 7-0 loss at Guardiola's FC Bayern München in the 2014/15 round of 16. The Ukrainian team lost four of their five fixtures against Barcelona when Guardiola was in charge, including the 2009 UEFA Super Cup (0-1).

• Fernandinho was a Shakhtar player between 2005 and 2013 when he left for City, scoring 31 goals in 183 league appearances. He was named Ukraine's Premier League player of the year in 2007/08, and amassed six league titles, four Ukrainian Cups and the 2008/09 UEFA Cup.

• Fernandinho's Shakhtar team-mates included Darijo Srna, Andriy Pyatov, Yaroslav Rakitskiy, Serhiy Kryvtsov, Taras Stepanenko and Taison.

• On 2 May 2012, Fernandinho scored the winner in Shakhtar's 2-1 defeat of Marlos's FC Metalist Kharkiv.

• İlkay Gündoğan was in the Borussia Dortmund side that beat Shakhtar 3-0 in their UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg on 5 March 2013. Pyatov, Srna, Rakitskiy, Taison and Fernandinho featured for the visitors.

• Olexandr Zinchenko came through the ranks at Shakhtar but departed for City in July 2016 without making a senior appearance.

• Yaya Touré played for FC Metalurh Donetsk from 2003 to 2005, losing both games against Shakhtar.

• Danilo, Nicolás Otamendi and Eliaquim Mangala played under current Shakhtar coach Paulo Fonseca at FC Porto in 2013/14.

• International team-mates:
Fernandinho & Taison, Fred (Brazil)
Olexandr Zinchenko & Andriy Pyatov, Yaroslav Rakitskiy, Serhiy Kryvtsov, Taras Stepanenko, Viktor Kovalenko (Ukraine)

Match facts

Manchester City
• City are 14 games unbeaten (W11 D3) in the Premier League, a run dating back to early April, following Saturday's 5-0 win at home against Crystal Palace FC.

• Gabriel Jesus has been directly involved in 15 goals in his 15 Premier League appearances for City (11 goals, four assists). He was an unused substitute against Palace.

• Sergio Agüero has seven goals in as many appearances for City this season.

• Agüero's hat-trick in the 6-0 win at Watford FC on 16 September took him past 200 European league goals. After scoring against Palace, he requires two more to surpass Eric Brook (177 goals) as City's all-time leading scorer.

• Making his first start since 14 December, İlkay Gündoğan limped off in the second half of City's 2-1 triumph at West Bromwich Albion FC in the English League Cup third round on 20 September.

Shakhtar
• Shakhtar have lost only one of their 12 matches in all competitions this season (0-1 v Dynamo Kyiv on 22 July).

• The Pitmen are unbeaten away from home in 27 games, a run dating back to a 2-0 loss at BSC Young Boys in the second leg of the teams' UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie on 3 August 2016.