Besiktas and Shakhtar Donetsk will meet in the first leg of the standout tie of the Europa League Second Qualifying Round on Thursday evening.

In a clash between two sides headed by former elite players in their own right in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Arda Turan, the victor will go on to face Rangers or Panathinaikos in another crunch tie.

Match preview

A strong finish to the Super Lig season was not enough to lift Besiktas into the top three, and means they are not guaranteed league phase football on the continent this season just yet.

Samsunspor beat them to the punch, despite Solskjaer’s men picking up 13 points from their final six matches, so they now have to navigate three potentially difficult rounds of qualifying to keep their European campaign alive post-summer.

After showing a statement of intent with their summer transfer business, Besiktas will now get their competitive campaign underway, after four underwhelming friendly results earlier this month.

The Istanbul giants beat St Polten and drew with Admira in Austria, but then lost to Wolfsberger and Petrzalka last week.

An upturn in performance levels is expected here, given how important this tie is and the level of opposition, as Besiktas will be keen to return so they can improve on a disappointing performance in the league phase of the Europa League last season.

Just nine points from eight games saw Besiktas eliminated, but they got that far after beating Lugano 8-4 on aggregate in a dramatic playoff, and another vintage attacking display should stand them in good stead here.

This will be a first ever competitive meeting between the two sides, but Shakhtar did win a friendly 1-0 last summer, with the two not having to worry about early rounds of qualifying.

It is different this summer, as Ukrainian football’s drop off amid the war with Russia has impacted on their coefficient, meaning cup winners Shakhtar had to start in the first qualifying round earlier this month.

Ilves of Finland were swept aside with little fuss, as a 6-0 first-leg win ended the tie, but this will now be a significant step up in quality for Shakhtar to face.

It is the first time since 2016 that Shakhtar will not be competing in the Champions League group stage, which emphasises just how sharp their fall off has been, with this being the first season they have to go through qualifying for UEFA’s second-tier competition since 1999-00.

The Champions League did prove to be too much of a challenge last season though, as Shakhtar were eliminated, finishing 27th, picking up just seven points from a possible 24.

Shakhtar Donetsk Europa League form:

W D

Team News

It has been a hugely exciting summer for Besiktas, signing Orkun Kokcu in a big-money transfer, while David Jurasek and Joao Mario have both followed from Benfica too, and all three will be in contention to start.

Tammy Abraham has also been brought in following the departure of Ciro Immobile, but fellow Englishman Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is out injured and is likely to leave this summer.

After missing the end of last season with injury, Milot Rashica and Kazakh international Bakhtiyar Zaynutdinov are both available once again, but the duo are both set to start on the bench.

Shakhtar boss Turan should have a full complement available to him, and he still picked a strong XI last midweek away to Ilves, despite being 6-0 up on aggregate.

Recent recruit Alisson was the star of the show, scoring twice and setting up a hat trick of goals in that rout, but he remains the last player to have come through the door back in March, as no new players have arrived yet this summer.

Besiktas possible starting lineup:

Gunok; Svensson, Gabriel, Uduokhai, Jurasek; Kokcu, Tiknaz, Kayra Yilmaz; Rafa Silva, Abraham, Joao Mario

Shakhtar Donetsk possible starting lineup:

Riznyk; Konoplya, Bondar, Matviienko, Pedro Henrique; Marlon Gomes, Bondarenko, Sudakov; Alisson, Kaua Elias, Kevin

We say: Besiktas 2-0 Shakhtar Donetsk

Given the vast sums of money Besiktas have paid out this summer, they should enter this clash as the favourites, despite their underwhelming Super Lig campaign last season.

Shakhtar fared even worse, finishing outside of the top two in Ukraine for the first time since 1996, and with no new players yet to come through the door, this challenge could be beyond them.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Andrew Delaney

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