SOCCER:SHAKHTAR Donetsk will be without captain Dario Srna for the Champions League quarter-final return leg against Barcelona tonight. Olexandr Kucher and former Barcelona defender Dmytro Chygrynskiy are also on the injury list, while left back Razvan Rat is suspended.
Barcelona could include some fringe players. They are without the injured Carles Puyol, Eric Abidal and Bojan Krkic, while Andres Iniesta is suspended. Despite taking a 5-1 lead to Donetsk, Barcelona striker Pedro believes his team’s passage into the semi-finals is not guaranteed.
“Although we are defending a good result, it will be tremendously difficult,” he said.
“There are 90 minutes and anything can happen. They have a great team. In the King’s Cup we saw what happened against Real Betis (Barca won 5-0 at home and then lost 3-1 away). We won’t change our style. We’ll go there to attack and to score goals.”
Ukraine champions and league leaders Shakhtar go into the match on the back of a 1-0 home defeat to Obolon Kiev.
“We paid too little attention to our domestic rivals after a heavy defeat at Barcelona,” said manager Mircea Lucescu. “We failed to keep our concentration right through to the final whistle, allowing Obolon to score a late winning goal. Against Barcelona, we should have our minds on the job throughout the whole match, otherwise it could cost the side too much.”
Barcelona have scored at least one goal in every away game so far this season and their first objective in Donetsk tonight is to keep up that record and get an away goal.
After their victory in the first leg, Barcelona are favourites to make the semi-final, but the big win in the Nou Camp makes relaxation the big danger in the return.
The squad have been very focused on avoiding that and know an away goal is the first step to really making sure a last four berth is theirs.
The front three of Messi, Villa and Pedro have been in the goals away from home in Europe this year, getting two each, with Villa scoring in Kazan and London, Messi getting the goal that earned a draw in Copenhagen and one in the 0-3 win over Panathinaikos, where Pedro got the other two.
The team are averaging 2.86 goals a game on their trips in La Liga and are still unbeaten on the road. Messi is the leading scorer in league away games with 15.
First Leg: Barcelona 5, Shakhtar 1
