On Wednesday, February 8, the match of the 1/16 finals of the UEFA Youth League between Croatian Hajduk U19 and Donetsk Shakhtar U-19 will take place. The fight will take place at the Poljud Stadium in Split. The game starts at 19:00 Kyiv time. The main referee is Damian Silveschak from Poland.
Hajduk U-19
This is the second season in a row for Croatian team players to play in the UEFA Youth League. Last season, Hajduk U-19 went through the path of national champions, and in the 1/16 finals of the tournament lost to their peers from Atlético. This year, the Croatian club has again successfully passed the path of national champions, having beaten the Turkish “Gabala” U-19 (3:0, 2:1) and the Albanian “Apalonia Fier” U-19 (3:0, 3:1).
In the U-19 National Championship, Hajduk is in 3rd position with 38 points after 16 rounds. It is interesting that 17-year-old Ukrainian goalkeeper David Fesiuk, who was only recently transferred from Hajduk U-17, plays in the team.
In general, the Croatian team performs quite well in attack. As mentioned above, Hajduk U-19 confidently went the way of national champions, scoring 11 goals and conceding only 2 in four matches. In the national championship, the team has 36 goals and 11 conceded, which allows it to be the second team in the country in terms of performance .
Shakhtar U-19
Shakhtar U-19 reached the 1/16 finals of the tournament through second place in the group. It is worth noting that the 1/16 final is a preliminary round of the playoffs: its winners will join the eight group winners from the Champions League path. In the 1/16 finals, the fate of confrontations is decided by one match, starting from the 1/8 finals, the teams will play two matches each. In the group, the Pitmen played against peers from Real Madrid, Celtic and RB Leipzig. In total, the Donetsk club scored 6 goals in the group and conceded 10 goals, with 6 goals scored by Real Madrid.
With 10 points, the team is in second position. In the national championship, Shakhtar U-19 is third, leaving behind peers from Rukh and Dynamo Kyiv. The Pitmen have 29 points after 12 rounds. In just 12 games, the wards of Oscar Ratulutra scored 37 goals and conceded only 7.
The juniors of the Donetsk club spent the training camp together with the main team in Turkey. During the preparation, the team played 7 friendly matches (2 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses) with a goal difference of 11:8. Ratulutra said that it is not worth drawing conclusions on the fees, but only an official meeting will show how ready the team really is.
It is important to take into account that in the confrontation with the Croatian club, the Pitmen may face a common problem for Ukrainian clubs in the early stages of the European Cup playoffs: lack of playing tone after a long winter break.
Forecast for confrontation
Still, Shakhtar’s youth team is one of the strongest in Ukraine. The Pitmen showed themselves well in the group stage as well, losing only to Real Madrid. Yes, and training camps from the main team clearly benefited the juniors. We believe that Shakhtar will at least not lose in the regular time of the game. Our bet will be X2 at odds of 2.00.
Wednesday, February 8
Hajduk U-19 – Shakhtar U-19
Polud (Croatia, Split). 19:00 TV-broadcast – Shakhtar TV (Megogo) Referee: Damian Silveszczak (Poland) Prediction Aroged – 1:1
