Celta Vigo v Shakhtar Donetsk background
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Article summary
Celta Vigo are unbeaten at home in Europe this season but will need to have their wits about them to avoid being turned over by a prolific Shakhtar Donetsk side.
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On their first continental adventure in a decade, Celta Vigo have a massive challenge in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 against Shakhtar Donetsk, who averaged 3.5 goals per game in the group stage.
Previous meetings
• Víctor Fernández's Celta beat Viktor Prokopenko's Shakhtar 1-0 on aggregate in the 2000/01 UEFA Cup third round, Brazilian striker Catanha scoring the only goal in the second leg. Those ties represent Celta's only previous encounters with Ukrainian opponents.
• Shakhtar have won only four of their 23 meetings with Spanish clubs (W4 D6 L13). Their record in Spain is W2 D2 L7, those victories coming at Real Sociedad (2-0 in September 2013) and Barcelona (3-2 in December 2008).
Form guide
• Celta are unbeaten at home in Europe this season (W1 D2).
• Shakhtar are on an eight-game European winning streak and have scored nine goals in their two most recent matches on the road.
• Shakhtar were the only side to win all six of their group stage fixtures and ended with a +16 goal difference – seven greater than any other team.
• This is Celta's first continental venture since they made it through the group stage and into the last 16 of the 2006/07 UEFA Cup. Their biggest European achievement was reaching the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup in three successive seasons (1998/99, 1999/2000, 2000/01).
• UEFA Cup winners in 2009, Shakhtar progressed as far as the semi-finals last season, losing to eventual winners Sevilla.
Links and trivia
• Shakhtar (2009) are one of seven former UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League winners in the round of 32, along with Tottenham Hotspur (1972, 1984), Borussia Mönchengladbach (1975 & 1979), Anderlecht (1983), Ajax (1992), Schalke (1997) and Zenit (2008).
• Shakhtar's Darijo Srna has played 143 UEFA club matches, the highest total of any player in this season's UEFA Europa League. His nearest rival, Manchester United's Zlatan Ibrahimović, has made 133 appearances.
• Celta's Giuseppe Rossi opened the scoring on 29 March 2011 when Italy won a friendly 2-0 against a Ukraine side featuring Shakhtar's Yaroslav Rakitskiy and Taras Stepanenko.
• Suspended: Taras Stepanenko (Shakhtar).
Misses next match if booked: Nemanja Radoja (Celta).
The coaches
• Eduardo Berizzo played in the UEFA Champions League for Marseille and Celta, the former Argentina centre-back subsequently returning to Europe in 2014 to take charge of the Galician club. He guided them back into Europe with a sixth-place finish in 2015/16.
• Paulo Fonseca took the Shakhtar helm last summer after Mircea Lucescu moved on following 12 years in the post. His Braga team were ousted by Shakhtar in last term's UEFA Europa League quarter-finals but went on to land the Portuguese Cup.
UEFA makes new donation of €100,000 to ICRC
UEFA will mark a decade of helping Afghan landmine victims on Wednesday, when Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos presents a cheque for €100,000 to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
"I would like to pay tribute to the ICRC, who have been working relentlessly to help landmine victims, many of whom are children. Their programme in Afghanistan, which has been in place for several years, shows that football can offer real hope in challenging times," said UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin.
"I am glad that UEFA can help this cause, and that the sport we love can have a positive impact on the rehabilitation process of so many people in this troubled region," he added.
The donation supports the ICRC's physical rehabilitation programme for landmine victims and other people with disabilities in Afghanistan – providing artificial limbs, physiotherapy, vocational training and access to the rehabilitation centre's football team. About a third of patients are children.
Sergio Ramos will present the donation before his side's UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg match against Napoli at the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid on 15 February.
"The people benefiting from the ICRC programme in Afghanistan are an inspiration to us, as they set an example of how to approach life in a positive manner despite the problems that they face," the Real Madrid captain said.
Sergio Ramos was chosen to hand over the cheque after receiving the most votes in UEFA.com's Team of the Year, which was published in January, and added that it is "a privilege" to be "a source of motivation" to so many people.
"They don't stop dreaming, and they fight to make their dreams come true. As key figures in this sport, it's a true privilege for us footballers to be a source of motivation in their day-to-day lives, and to help them out," he said.
Over the course of a partnership lasting almost 20 years, UEFA has donated in excess of €3.5m to the ICRC to help disadvantaged people around the globe. Meanwhile, over 7 million votes were cast in selecting the UEFA.com users' Team of the Year 2016. More information on the award is available online at en.toty.uefa.com.