Shakhtar Donetsk vs Barcelona preview - It`s not all over yet - Striker

Posted Tuesday, April 12, 2011 by PA

Shakhtar Donetsk striker Luiz Adriano remains confident his team can still reach the semi-finals of the Champions League despite needing to produce one of European football's greatest comebacks to get past Barcelona.

Shakhtar go into the quarter-final second leg at the Donbass Arena trailing 5-1 from last week's first meeting at the Nou Camp, and it will need something special to prevent 2006 and 2009 European champions Barca from going though.

Only three clubs before have managed to overturn a four-goal first-leg deficit in UEFA competition.

However, Luiz Adriano, who hit the post in the first leg and also spurned an early one-on-one with Victor Valdes as Shakhtar caused their hosts a number of problems going forward, is not giving the tie up for lost just yet.

When asked if Shakhtar's objective was to just win the game or still to get through to the last four, the Brazilian said on www.sport.es: "Without doubt it's to get to the semi-finals, it can't be anything else.

"If it's not like that, why are we going out to play? Every game has it's own story and if Barca beat us 5-1 at their home, we can also win here 5-1, or by 4-0.

"There are still 90 minutes left and the team is convinced we can still dream (about getting through). We want to continue making history."

Regarding his side's first leg performance, Luiz Adriano, who turns 24 on Tuesday, said: "The truth is that we didn't have a bad game, but we didn't make the most of the many chances we had.

"I myself could have scored at least two goals but had no luck, while in contrast Barca were more effective."

Until this weekend, Shakhtar also had their remarkable home record to give them confidence as they prepared to face Pep Guardiola's men.

Shakhtar had not been beaten at home in any competition since October 2008 - a run of 55 matches - before slumping to a shock 1-0 defeat to 10-man Obolon Kyiv on Saturday.

It was also the Ukrainian champions' first loss at the Donbass Arena, which they moved to in September 2009, having previously won 32 of 35 matches there.

While Mircea Lucescu's side were tasting a rare home defeat, Barca moved a step closer to retaining their Primera Division title this weekend with a 3-1 win over Almeria at the Nou Camp.

That left the Catalan giants eight points clear of second-placed Real Madrid with only seven games to go.

Barca and Madrid meet at the Bernabeu this weekend in a mouth-watering clash that could be the first of four meetings between the big two in a matter of weeks - providing both clubs get through their Champions League quarter-finals.

That looks set to be the case, with Madrid holding a 4-0 advantage over Tottenham in their tie, but Barca winger Pedro Rodriguez is remaining cautious.

The Spain international, who scored a 115th-minute winner as Barca beat Shakhtar to win the 2009 UEFA Super Cup, said: "The Donetsk game is very difficult. They have fast players and a very good defence, but we need to go there to win.

"If we don't look to do that then we know that it will be a complicated game because of the great team that Shakhtar have.

"Even though we are going there with a good result behind us, it will be tremendously tough. The match is 90 minutes and anything could happen.

"In the Copa del Rey what happened against Real Betis shows we cannot be over-confident."

In that recent cup game, Barca won the first leg 5-0 but had a nervous time of it in the return meeting as they found themselves 2-0 down after seven minutes and 3-1 down at half-time, although Betis could not make any further inroads in the second half.