Wolfsburg vs Shakhter Donetsk Prediction and Betting Preview 12 Mar 2020

Here's our Wolfsburg vs Shakhtar Donetsk Prediction analysis: Wolfsburg vs Shakhter Donetsk Prediction

Wolfsburg will welcome Shakhtar Donetsk to Volkswagen Arena on Thursday for the 1st leg of their last-16 tie in Europa League. The Germans had no problems eliminating Malmo in the previous round of the tournament, while Shakhtar triumphed with 5:4 on aggregate against Benfica.

Match status: 2019/20 Europa League - Play Offs - 1/8-finals
Kick-off: Thursday 12 Mar 2020, 09:00pm CET
 Venue: Volkswagen Arena (Wolfsburg)

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Wolfsburg are undefeated in their last eight matches in all competitions and breezed past Malmo in the Europa League Round of 32. A 2-1 home win was followed by a 3-0 win in Sweden with Josip Brekalo, Yannick Gerhardt and Joao Victor on target.

The Wolves returned to Bundesliga duty by coming back from 2-0 down at Union Berlin to draw 2-2. Yannick Gerhardt and Wout Weghorst scored before a tough 0-0 home draw against Leipzig.

Shakhtar Donetsk are undefeated in 21 of their last 23 matches in all competitions. The Ukraine club drew 3-3 at Benfica to advance 5-4 on aggregate in the Europa League.

Luís Castro’s side are miles ahead in the Ukraine Premier League where they lost 1-0 at Vorskla before an easy 4-1 home win against Dnipro-1. Sergey Krivtsov, Moraes, Taison and Yevhen Konoplyanka were all on target in the opening 23 minutes.

Shakhtar Donetsk then won 4-3 at Kolos Kovalivka with Taison, Moraes (2) and Tete on target.

Wolfsburg vs Shakhtar Donetsk Team News

Thursday’s hosts didn’t exactly smash the groups to pieces, drawing two and losing one after beating Oleksandria on match-day one, but they’ve certainly come into their own since.

Wolfsburg progressed to the knockouts thanks to two final wins in Group I, keeping a clean sheet against both Oleksandria and St. Etienne in the process.

In addition to coming into their own towards the end of the groups, Wolfsburg made light work of beating Malmo in the previous round, scoring five and conceding just once in the process.

They’ve now conceded just a single goal in their last four UEL matches. Then again, they’ve conceded in three out of four at home in this competition, which doesn’t exactly bode well ahead of a game against a Shakhtar side that has plenty to offer offensively.

Shakhtar are a very capable side when it comes to the Europa League; they play attacking football, create chances and have no shortage of forward players that can give defences a tough time.

However, they remain a side that is there for the taking thanks to a weak backline, which seems to get weaker away from home. Their attack just about dragged them through the previous round, though the fact that they conceded four goals, three of which came away from home, doesn’t exactly bode well.

Being involved in high-scoring games is something of a speciality for Shakhtar on the continent. Before being eliminated from the Champions League groups, the Ukrainians saw three goals scored in five of their six matches, four of which they both scored and conceded in, while 3+ goals were scored both home and away against Benfica in the previous round of this competition.

Injured or Suspended Players

Wolfsburg: Ignacio Camacho, William, Guilavogui and Mbabu.

Shakhtar Donetsk: Solomon, Stepanenko, Malyshev and Alan Patrick.

Pre-Match Odds

Wolfsburg: 2.365
Draw: 3.5
Shakhtar Donetsk: 3.24

All odds are with 1xBet and are subject to change.
All odds are for Wolfsburg vs Shakhtar Donetsk Predictions with 1xBet and are subject to change.

Wolfsburg vs Shakhtar Donetsk Predictions

Both of these sides were involved in high-scoring ties in the last round and go into this meeting in good form. They also both possess prolific center-forwards in their ranks and Shakhtar are not a team to sit back, as they proved against Benfica, so there should be a few goals here.