Bologna vs Shakhtar Donetsk facts

Bologna's first UEFA Champions League game pits them against experienced campaigners Shakhtar Donetsk as the league phase kicks off.

The Italian side are taking part in just their second European Cup campaign and get under way against the Ukrainian champions, who reached the Champions League quarter-finals in 2010/11 and have featured in all but one of the last 15 campaigns.

This is the first game between the clubs, and Bologna's first fixture against a team from Ukraine.

Form guide

Bologna

This is Bologna's first Champions League campaign. They are the 11th Italian side to appear in the competition proper and the first newcomers since Atalanta in 2019/20.

Their only previous European Cup campaign lasted a single tie, Bologna losing on a coin toss to Anderlecht in the 1964/65 preliminary round (0-1 a, 2-1 h, 0-0 play-off).

Bologna are one of five clubs to be making their Champions League debuts in 2024/25, along with Brest, Aston Villa, Girona and Slovan Bratislava.

Bologna have not featured in European competition since losing a UEFA Intertoto Cup final to Fulham in August 2002 (2-2 h, 1-3 a).

The Italian side have never lost at home in UEFA competition, winning 15 of their 23 fixtures.

The last of the Rossoblù's four UEFA Cup campaigns came in 1999/2000, when they reached the third round before losing 2-3 on aggregate against Galatasaray. Their most successful European season also came in the competition, making it as far as the 1998/99 semi-finals only to lose on away goals to Marseille (1-1 aggregate).

Champions of Italy seven times – most recently in 1964 – Bologna were fifth in Serie A in 2023/24, setting a new club record of 68 points. It was their highest finish since 1966/67, when they were third.

Thiago Motta, who had been in charge since September 2022, left for Juventus in the summer. Vincenzo Italiano, who guided Fiorentina to the UEFA Europa Conference League final in each of the last two seasons, was named as his replacement.

Shakhtar

Record vs Italian clubs: W7 D5 L19 F21 A61
Away record vs Italian clubs: W2 D3 L10

This is Shakhtar's first game against an Italian club since the 2021/22 Champions League group stage, when they drew 0-0 at home and lost 2-0 away against Inter Milan.

A 2-1 victory against Atalanta at San Siro on Matchday 2 in 2019/20 is Shakhtar's sole success in their last ten contests with Italian sides, home and away (D3 L6). That is one of just two victories in their 15 games in Italy (D3 L10).

Júnior Moraes's strike in a 1-2 defeat at home to Roma in the 2020/21 UEFA Europa League round of 16 second leg is Shakhtar's only goal in their last eight matches against Italian opponents.

The Ukrainian side are making an eighth successive appearance in the Champions League proper, and a 19th overall. They have featured in all but one of the last 15 seasons.

The Pitmen have failed to progress to the knockout rounds in each of the last six campaigns.

In 2023/24, Shakhtar were third in Group H behind Barcelona and Porto despite winning three of their six games. They lost the others, including a decisive 5-3 defeat in Portugal on Matchday 6.

That sent them into the UEFA Europa League but Marseille proved too strong in their knockout round play-off, winning 3-1 in France after a 2-2 first-leg draw.

Shakhtar's most successful Champions League campaign came in 2010/11, when they reached the quarter-finals before losing 6-1 on aggregate to eventual champions Barcelona.

A 3-2 win at Antwerp on Matchday 2 last season is one of only two Shakhtar victories in their last 11 away games in the Champions League proper (D2 L7).

Victory at Antwerp was also only Shakhtar's second in their last 12 European away matches – a sequence that includes nine defeats.

Under Marino Pušić, who had been appointed in October, Shakhtar won their 15th Ukrainian Premier League in 2023/24, finishing two points above Dynamo Kyiv. They also lifted the Ukrainian Cup for a record 14th time, and a first since 2018/19; it was their ninth domestic double.

Links and trivia

Nikola Moro and Bartol Franjić were Dinamo Zagreb team-mates in 2019/20.

Moro and Martin Erlić were Croatia Under-21 team-mates of Franjić in 2021.

Shakhtar coach Marino Pušić was the AZ Alkmaar assistant when Bologna winger Jesper Karlsson was playing for the Dutch club in 2020/21.

Shakhtar assistant coach Mario Stanić played in Serie A with Parma between 1996 and 2000.

Latest news

Bologna

Bologna are still without a win after their first four Serie A games, recording 1-1 home draws against Udinese and Empoli either side of a 3-0 defeat at Napoli.

On Saturday Vincenzo Italiano's side came from two goals down to rescue a 2-2 draw at Como thanks to strikes in the final 15 minutes from substitutes Santiago Castro and Samuel Iling-Junior, the latter scoring his first for Bologna.

The Rossoblù's winless run now extends to six games (D4 L2), since a 2-0 Serie A success at Napoli on 11 May.

Riccardo Orsolini gave Bologna the lead from the spot against Udinese on 18 August, while Giovanni Fabbian’s early goal was not enough to beat Empoli on 31 August.

Orsolini has now scored in seven different seasons for Bologna, the first player to do so since Carlo Nervo in 2003/04.

Łukasz Skorupski saved a penalty against Udinese, his fourth since the start of the 2022/23 season. No other goalkeeper have saved more penalties in Serie A in this spell.

New signing Nicolò Cambiaghi also suffered a knee ligament injury after his Bologna debut against Udinese and is not expected to play again this year.

Dan Ndoye (Switzerland) and Martin Erlić (Croatia) missed their recent international games after thigh injuries. Ndoye was a late substitute for Bologna on Saturday, when Erlić was an unused replacement.

Oussama El Azzouzi has not been included in the UEFA Champions League squad after suffering a knee injury in the summer. Lewis Ferguson is in the list despite being out since 13 April, when he underwent knee surgery on a ligament injury.

Shakhtar

An Artem Bondarenko hat-trick inspired Shakhtar to a 5-2 win at home to Karpaty Lviv on Saturday, with Danylo Sikan and Oleksandr Zubkov also on target.

Bondarenko and Sikan are now Shakhtar's joint-top scorers this season on three goals apiece.

The Pitmen have lost two of their first five league games this season, winning the other three; they suffered only three defeats in the whole of 2023/24.

Shakhtar's game against Kryybas on 1 September was abandoned in the 50th minute with Shakhtar 1-0 up and has been indefinitely postponed.

In the previous league game, Shakhtar let slip a two-goal lead to lose 4-3 away to Oleksandriya. It was the first time they had conceded four goals in a Ukrainian Premier League game since a 4-1 loss at Dnipro on 13 March 2016.

Yukhym Konoplia scored Ukraine's only goal in a 2-1 UEFA Nations League loss to Albania on 7 September.

Georgiy Sudakov got Ukraine's second goal in a 3-2 defeat in Czechia on 10 September.

Marlon Gomes came on in the second half on Saturday having been sidelined since suffering a hamstring injury in Shakhtar's 1-0 defeat by Polissya on 11 August.