For a sixth consecutive season, Shakhtar Donetsk haven’t been able to get out of their Champions League group.
Thankfully, a third-place finish means they aren’t yet done with continental football. However, they must first get past Marseille on Thursday night at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg.
Shakhtar Donetsk vs Marseille Betting Tips
- Anytime goalscorer - Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang @ 1.65 with Hollywoodbets
- Marseille corner range - 5-6 @ 2.10 with Hollywoodbets
- Match result - Draw @ 2.45 with Hollywoodbets
All odds are courtesy of Hollywoodbets, correct at the time of publishing and subject to change.
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The Ukrainian outfit are in familiar surroundings, as they triumphed in a knockout match last season against French opposition in the form of Rennes.
However, they will want to find a clearer path to the next round of the competition, instead of the lottery of penalties as they did last year.
Marseille needed to simply avoid defeat to Brighton on matchday six of the Europa League to secure automatic qualification to the round of 16, but a late Seagulls’ strike landed them here.
Les Phoceens have been in poor domestic form but still find themselves five points adrift off the European qualification spots in Ligue 1.
European football will no doubt be a welcome distraction to those league troubles and Gennaro Gattuso’s men need to apply their experience on Thursday night to get a positive result.
A shining light in the dark
Even though Marseille have been struggling lately, their one shining light has been Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The Gabonese forward is the club’s leading scorer in Ligue 1 with six goals in total, but he crucially has seven assists to his name, the most for any player in the division.
Aubameyang scored five times in the Europa League group stages and needs one more goal to join Radamal Falcao as the competition’s highest-ever goalscorer (30).
If OM are to break down their hosts on Thursday night, the source is likely to be the former Arsenal captain.
- Shakhtar Donetsk vs Marseille Betting Tip 1: Anytime goalscorer - Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang @ 1.65 with Hollywoodbets
Getting up to speed
Shakhtar’s last competitive football match came on matchday six of the Champions League where they lost 5-3 to Porto.
Marino Pusic's troops defeated Barcelona in their group but they haven’t been playing at the same level since then.
It may take a while for the Ukrainian champions to get up to speed with competitive European football, leading to the opposition dominating the first leg.
Shakhtar conceded 12 goals in their group, averaging two goals per game, indicating there are defensive frailties for Marseille to exploit.
Since the Ligue 1 outfit win an average of 6.10 corners per away game in the league this season, they could apply pressure to the hosts, resulting in the rise of their corner count.
- Shakhtar Donetsk vs Marseille Betting Tip 2: Marseille corner range - 5-6 @ 2.10 with Hollywoodbets
Cancelling each other out
Even though Shakhtar have been playing club friendlies since December, the level of competition wouldn’t match what they’re about to face on Thursday.
Marseille are a naturally attacking side and have scored at least two goals in all but one of their group games this term.
The Miners have a record of losing just one game to French opposition (W4, D4) and lost just two home games out of the last eight European ties (W3, D3).
Gattuso’s men aren’t great travellers, they’ve lost five of their previous eight continental affairs (W2, D1), indicating both teams may just cancel each other out on the night.
- Shakhtar Donetsk vs Marseille Betting Tip 3: Match result - Draw @ 2.45 with Hollywoodbets