Will Shakhtar beat Borussia?

The draw of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 was held on December 20 in Nyon, Switzerland. The only Ukrainian club that has reached this stage of Europe’s main soccer club competition – Shakhtar Donetsk – will have to measure swords with Borussia Dortmund. The two sides will play the first match on February 13, 2013, at Donetsk’s Donbass Arena and the return game on March 5 at Signal Iduna Park Stadium in Dortmund.

“As a matter of fact, Shakhtar will have quite an acceptable rival – not an easy but not too difficult one at the same time. Of course, even among the three German clubs that have qualified for the Champions League Round of 16, there are far weaker ones, such as Schalke 04. But there were also such world-level soccer grandees as Barcelona and Manchester United,” says Artem FRANKOV, soccer analyst and editor of the journal Futbol. “It is difficult to say which of the two clubs – Shakhtar or Borussia – will be the favorite, as both clubs have the same potential chances for victory. I am sure that, because of this, the first match between the two rivals will be rather spectacular and uncompromised.”

The group winners will play the first Round of 16 matches (February 12/13 and 19/20) away and return matches (March 5/6 and 12/13) at home. UEFA has announced that the draw of the next play-off rounds will be held on March 15 and the season’s strongest clubs will play the Champions League final match on May 25 at Wembley Stadium in London.

The other Champions League Round of 16 pairs are: Galatasaray (Istanbul, Turkey) – Schalke 04 (Gelsenkirchen, Germany), Celtic (Glasgow, Scotland) – Juventus (Turin, Italy), Arsenal (London, England) – Bayern (Munich, Germany), Milan (Milan, Italy) – Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain), Real (Madrid, Spain) – Manchester United (Manchester, England), Valencia (Valencia, Spain) – Paris Saint Germain (Paris, France), and Porto (Porto, Portugal) – Malaga (Malaga, Spain).