FC Shakhtar Donetsk vs Bayer Leverkusen preview - Leverkusen wary of Shakhtar threat

Posted Tuesday, November 05, 2013 by PA

Bayer Leverkusen will be keen to bounce back from Saturday's Bundesliga disappointment at Eintracht Braunschweig by taking a big step towards the Champions League knockout stage in Ukraine.

A 4-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk at the BayArena a fortnight ago means Leverkusen can all but seal their place in the last 16 with victory on Tuesday, and that has become one of their priorities after their director of sport Rudi Voller ruled them out of the domestic title race.

"We've got to turn things around quickly and show our true face in Donetsk," Voller said prior to Monday's departure for Ukraine.

"We've got to be realistic. Even if we'd won in Braunschweig, Bayern and Dortmund are in a league of their own and they're going to decide the Bundesliga title between them.

"We've got to focus on finishing third and watch out for the teams behind us."

Finishing third would earn Leverkusen an automatic starting berth in the group stage of the Champions League next season, but so too would winning the competition outright.

That would be getting ahead of themselves, though, and captain Simon Rolfes does not want to think beyond Tuesday night's clash.

"We're in good form and mustn't let one slip-up ruin everything," he is quoted as saying by Sport1.de.

"We've got to be alert in Donetsk because they're going to want to make amends for the 4-0 defeat in front of 50,000 fans."

Indeed, that result at home is not going to mislead Leverkusen.

"Shakhtar are definitely going to play differently," goalkeeper Bernd Leno said. "Therefore, we're going to have to give 110 per cent if we want to survive."

The Ukrainian outfit need to give even more if they want to keep alive their chances of progressing from Group A.

"Tomorrow is our most important game if we want to go through," Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu said at a press conference.

"With our fans behind us, we can get a good result."

He does not expect that to be easy, though, having seen his opposite number Sami Hyypia rest Stefan Kiessling, Sidney Sam and Heung-Min Son against Braunschweig at the weekend.

"That just shows how intensively they are preparing for this game," the 68-year-old added.

"It shows that they respect us and also fear us. As I've said, this is a very important match for us."