Sporting Braga vs Shakhtar Donetsk: Preview and Prediction

Sporting Braga vs Shakhtar Donetsk
UEFA Europa League – Matchday 8
Date: Thursday 8th December, 2016
Kick-off: 16:00 UK
Venue: Estadio Municipal de Braga.

Shakhtar Donets are enjoying the perfect season on both fronts since they are currently holding the very top of Ukrainian Premier League being as many as ten points clear ahead of their arch-rivals Dynamo Kyiv.

Paulo Fonseca’s men were impeccable in Europa League as well, where they have claimed five wins in five matches with the total goal difference of 17-3. However, they will be travelling to Municipal de Braga stadium without a real motivation since the Portuguese manager is expected to rest some of his key players ahead of the derby match with Dynamo Kyiv next Monday.

Shakhtar have managed to keep three clean sheets in a row, including the one from the Europa League’s home game vs Konyaspor when the mixed lineup managed to score as many as four goals.

Sporting Braga will be desperate to clinch the victory which would guarantee them the second position in the group H. Any other scenario will most likely give the opportunity to Gent to surpass the Portuguese team and catch the last train for the knockout stage of the competition. Braga will enter the game with Shakhtar after a defeat to Porto at Dragao last Saturday.

Sporting Braga vs Shakhtar Donetsk: Head-to-Head Stats

Shakhtar Donetsk were absolutely dominant in head to head encounters with Braga winning each of the five games with the total goal difference of 13-1. The second round of this season’s group stage ended with a confident 2-0 win for the Ukrainians as Stepanenko and Kovalenko scored a goal each at the start of both halves.

Sporting Braga vs Shakhtar Donetsk: Prediction

We just can’t ignore such high odds on Shakhtar to end the group stage with the perfect score of six wins in six matches, even though Fonseca will use the mixed lineup. After all, the mixed lineup bagged four goals against Konyaspo