Shakhtar Donetsk vs Celtic: Why Hoops are perfectly placed to disrupt 'dangerous' opponents in Warsaw

Ange Postecoglou’s side will be hoping to get their first points on the board in Group F after coming up short against Real Madrid at Parkhead last week.

On the same night that Celtic fell to defeat against Carlo Ancelotti's side, their next opponents were opening their campaign with a shock 4-1 win in Germany over RB Leipzig, with former hoops winger Marian Shved among the goals.

Although it was an underwhelming Leipzig performance – one that would see manager Domenico Tedesco sacked in the aftermath and replaced by Marco Rose – Shakhtar took full advantage with an efficient display that saw them score their four goals from just five shots on goal.

This analysis will take a closer look at the dangers they will pose in Poland and highlight areas where Celtic could exploit their Ukrainian opponents to pick up those vital first points.  

Likely starting XI

Shakhtar, unsurprisingly, have been hugely affected by the war with many key overseas players, such as David Neres, Dodo and Marlon Soloman, departing the club over the summer following Russia’s invasion earlier this year.

Former Ajax forward Lassina Traore, right-back Lucas Taylor, on loan from Greek side POAK, and Croatian midfielder Neven Djurasek are currently the only foreign players in what is mostly a new team that includes several home-grown talents who have come through the Shakhtar academy.

Despite those exits, Shakhtar defied the odds on Matchday One to secure that 4-1 victory against Leipzig – a win that already betters their record of two points and two goals from the entire of last season’s group stages.

Their new-look side has also made a strong start in the new Ukrainian league, which kicked off last month, with three wins and a draw from their opening four matches.

As they did in Leipzig, and as they have in all four of their league games this season, Shakhtar are almost certain to line up in a 4-1-4-1 formation.

Twenty-one-year-old Anatolii Trubin, who has taken over from veteran Andriy Pyatov, will start between the sticks in front of a back four, that in Leipzig consisted of Taylor at right-back, Valeriy Bondar and Mykola Matvienko at centre-back and Yukhym Konoplya at left-back.

Experienced captain Taras Stepanenko, who has been at Shakhtar since 2010, will sit in front of the defence behind a midfield four. Mykhaylo Mudryk, one of Europe’s most exciting prospects will probably start on the left with Shved on the right. In the middle, the two central midfield berths will likely be taken by Artem Bondarenko and Gerorgiy Sudakov.

Former Ferencvaros forward Oleksandr Zubkov, usually a winger but who has been deployed as a striker at Shakhtar, will lead the line.

Build-up play

Before highlighting individual threats in the Shakhtar team in a bit more detail, a look at the Ukrainian’s set-up in possession can offer some insight into how they will attempt to build attacks against Celtic in Warsaw.

In Leipzig, Shakhtar were relatively expansive in possession with centre-backs splitting to the edge of the box on either side and the full-backs wide, in line with the midfielders. In the midfield, Stepanenko would remain in that deep role with the two central midfielders dropping, almost making a three in the middle, to offer vertical passing options for the centre-backs.

Shved and Mudryk stayed high, in line with Zubkov, which offered them the option to drop the ball into the channels.

They did drop the ball into the channels or go direct to Zubkov on a few occasions to relieve pressure but they did commit to playing out often. At times they struggled to get out and Leipzig did manage to turn the ball over high up the pitch.

Given how Celtic were able to unsettle Real Madrid last week, particularly in that first half, they should be more than capable of causing Shakhtar problems through their pressing.

However, last week Shakhtar did manage to get out on plenty of occasions, thanks to some impressive rotations which disrupted Leipzig.

Here we can see an example of Shakhtar building up from the back early in the match. With Matvienko on the ball at left centre-back, Bondarenko, the right-central midfield drops into a right-back position with Taylor moving up into right midfield. On the opposite side, Sudakov, the left-central midfielder also drops into the back line with left-back Konoplya going high, beyond even left-winger Mudryk.

As Bodnar and Matvienko exchange passes at centre-back, Taylor moves even higher, with Shved moving inside. With Sudakov high up the pitch on the other side, this makes almost a front five which gives Shakhtar a numerical superiority in the attacking third over Leipzig’s back four.

Although this gives them greater numbers further up the pitch, and a spare man if they get the ball into that front line, if Celtic can turn the ball over as Shakhtar build then this could expose their backline and create opportunities in transition.

Mudryk threat

Shakhtar’s biggest threat on the night will likely be 21-year-old left winger Mykhaylo Mudryk. Although the danger of in-form Shved haunting Celtic will certainly be there, Mudryk will be the one the hoops defence will have to keep an eye on very closely.

Dubbed the Ukrainian Neymar, Mudryk came very close to a big move this summer with Shakhtar turning down advances from the likes of Arsenal in the final days of the transfer window.

Mudryk showed exactly why Arsenal, and other top clubs around Europe, are keen on securing the winger’s signature with a devastating display in Leipzig.

The young winger is an excellent ball carrier, which makes him a danger in transitions, while when in more advanced his close control, balance and quick feet make a big threat in 1v1s.

He showcased that quality dribbling to set up Shved’s second goal of the night last week.

Picking up the ball on the left, Mudryk drove directly at Leipzig right-back Mohamed Simaken. After executing a few nice stepovers, he carried into the box and played the ball across to Shved with the outside of his right foot. Shved’s deflected strike then put the Ukrainians back in front.   

Mudryk added a third on the night for Shakhtar with a composed strike to finish off a swift counterattack before showcasing his threat in behind again to set up the fourth.

NQ (Image: NQ)

Timing his run perfectly to get onto the through ball from Konoplya, who found space after rotating into midfield from left-back again, the pacy Mudryk made up plenty of ground to leave Simaken in his wake before sliding the ball across for substitute Lassina Traore to slot home. 

Josip Juranovic had his hands full with Vinicius Junior at Celtic Park and Mudryk looks like he is just as capable of causing serious damage to Celtic’s hopes of getting a positive result. Nullifying the talented winger, who is destined for bigger things, will therefore be vital.

Disrupting their shape

When out of possession in Leipzig last week, Shakhtar kept their shape well with the home side struggling to break them down for long spells at the Red Bull Arena.

There were moments against Leipzig that pointed to how Celtic could break Shakhtar down though, should they set up similarly for spells during the game on Wednesday.

Should Shakhtar set up to be compact again, the Hoops will need to play at a much higher tempo than Leipzig did for most of their first game against the Ukrainians. Moving the ball from side to side quickly and changing the point of attack will be important.

Celtic’s movement will be important in disrupting their shape too and Leipzig did get some joy in this regard last week with Portuguese striker Andre Silva playing a key role.

Here we can see an early example of this from the game in Germany last week. Shakhtar are compact and narrow, with good distances between the lines, but patient build-up by the home side does open up a passing lane for centre-back Abdou Diallo to play a ball into Silva who has dropped in between the lines.

The Shakhtar defenders hold their position rather than go with the striker and, although a midfielder gets close to applying pressure, Silva turns and plays a through ball to Timo Werner. It doesn’t come off for Leipzig on this occasion though with Silva’s ball cut out.

However, it would be a similar situation from which Leipzig got their goal later in the game. Silva gets a bit of time and space in between the lines again, this time thanks to some good movement from Werner. Overloading the left, Leipzig drag Stepanenko out from his position which opens the lane into Silva again. This time the striker does not have to move too much as Werner’s movement in behind attracts Bondar, the right centre-back.

As with the first example, Silva can get turned and face up the Shakhtar defence. This time he passes on to midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai who then plays a first-time ball out to right-back Mohamed Simakan, in space out wide due to Shakhtar’s narrow defence, to score.

NQ (Image: NQ)

Pivotal in both examples was a better tempo with quick passing and movement. Dragging Stepanenko out from that screening position in front of the back four to open up space on the edge of the box was also pivotal in disrupting Shakhtar’s shape.

If Celtic are to succeed in Poland, then creating similar situations and maximising them will be crucial. With movement from the striker vital in achieving this too, Kyogo, should he be fully fit, could play a key role.   

Exploiting right-back area

As just seen in the examples of their shape, the Ukrainians were very narrow, giving up space in the wide areas when out of possession.

Again, should they deploy similar tactics, Celtic have players that could take advantage of this, particularly down Shakhtar’s right.  

Brazilian right-back Taylor was a bit too narrow at times so there could be space for the likes of Jota, Greg Taylor and Reo Hatate when he rotates out there to exploit.

With Shved offering little protection in front, there could be opportunities to exploit Taylor in one-v-ones too, with Jota likely capable of causing the former Palmeiras man problems.   

Werner has not been at his best for a while after an unsuccessful spell at Chelsea, but the German international caused Taylor plenty of problems.

The Brazilian looked particularly susceptible on the outside with Werner getting down the side of him to cross into the box on a few occasions, such as in the above example.

Jota can drive the outside to good effect himself, so should Taylor start for the home side, and if Celtic can engineer opportunities to get the Portuguese winger 1v1, then there is a good chance he can get the better of the Shakhtar right-back.  

Conclusion

The Leipzig game, and their four domestic matches of the new season, are Shakhtar’s only competitive games since December 2021.

This makes it difficult to draw too many concrete conclusions on what kind of level they might be at, especially with so many young players in their squad.

As their skipper Stepanenko put himself: “We have a team who are young, and everyone knows what young players are like - they can be great one week and not so good the next, so we don't know if we can be as good against Celtic as were against Leipzig."

That uncertainty still makes Shakhtar a potentially dangerous opponent, as they proved in Leipzig, but there are certainly areas where Celtic will have the quality to exploit the Ukrainian side throughout the 90 minutes in Poland’s capital.

Should Celtic take full advantage of those areas then there is a good chance they can secure a positive result that would kick-start their Champions League campaign.