UEFA Europa League - 2020/21 SeasonMatch press kits

The only UEFA Europa League round of 32 tie involving two reigning domestic champions brings together Israel's Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine.

• Maccabi were runners-up to Villarreal in Group I during the autumn, securing further progress with a 1-0 home win against Sivasspor on Matchday 6 that lifted their final tally to 11 points. Shakhtar Donetsk managed eight in a very congested UEFA Champions League Group B but could only finish third behind Borussia Mönchengladbach on the head-to-head rule despite beating section winners Real Madrid twice and playing out two 0-0 draws with Internazionale.

Previous meetings
• This is Shakhtar's first European tie against opposition from Israel.

• Maccabi have only faced one other Ukrainian side in the past and are yet to win a game in four outings against Dynamo Kyiv. They shared two draws in the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League group stage (1-1 h, 3-3 a) – their only points of the section – and were beaten home (0-2) and away (0-1) by the same opponents four years later in the UEFA Champions League group stage, when they lost all six matches.

Form guide
Maccabi
• Maccabi made up for a brief European campaign last season – eliminated on entry in the qualifying phase of both competitions – by retaining their Israeli league title in style to make it 23 championship wins in all. A third appearance in the UEFA Champions League group stage beckoned this term after qualifying successes against Riga (2-0 h), Sūduva (3-0 a) and Dinamo Brest (1-0 h), but they met their match in the play-offs, losing both legs to Salzburg (1-2 h, 1-3 a).

• Unlike three of their first four appearances in the UEFA Europa League group stage, Maccabi's fifth proved successful as, under former coach Giorgios Donis, they won their first two matches – 1-0 at home to Qarabağ and 2-1 at Sivasspor – and bounced back from a 4-0 defeat at Villarreal by drawing their next two games and winning the qualifying decider at home to their Turkish rivals on Matchday 6.

• The Israeli side's only previous venture into springtime European competition came in 2013/14 but it lasted only one tie as they were defeated in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 by Basel (0-0 h, 0-3 a).

• Maccabi have won only five of their 16 home games in the UEFA Europa League proper (D6 L5), though this season's victory against Qarabağ on Matchday 1 ended a three-game sequence without a win or a goal. They have scored once in each of their last five European home games.

Shakhtar
• Shakhtar won their fourth successive Ukrainian league title – and 13th in all – in 2019/20 to qualify for a fourth straight UEFA Champions League group stage participation.

• As in 2018/19 and 2019/20, however, they finished third in their group, the two wins against Madrid and two draws against Inter offset by a couple of heavy defeats by Mönchengladbach, the 0-6 loss in Kyiv the worst at home in their European history.

• Having switched competitions in mid-campaign last season, Luís Castro's side went on to reach the UEFA Europa League semi-finals, where, having kicked off their campaign by eliminating Benfica in the round of 32 (2-1 h, 3-3 a), they were defeated 5-0 by Inter in Gelsenkirchen. That is the 2008/09 UEFA Cup winners' joint best performance in the UEFA Europa League – they also reached the last four in 2015/16, which is the only other season in which they have won their round of 32 tie, overcoming Schalke 3-0 on aggregate (0-0 h, 3-0 a) in 2015/16. The four defeats have come against Fulham in 2009/10 (1-2 a, 1-1 h), Viktoria Plzeň in 2013/14 (1-1 a, 1-2 h), Celta Vigo in 2016/17 (1-0 a, 0-2 h aet) and Eintracht Frankfurt in 2018/19 (2-2 h, 1-4 a).

• Shakhtar's away record in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase is W5 D2 L3. They have won ten of their last 13 away fixtures in the competition overall, losing just two.

Links and trivia
• Shakhtar's Manor Solomon is an Israeli international who joined the club from Maccabi Petach-Tikva in 2019 after scoring eight goals in 68 Israeli top-flight appearances. One of those goals came in a 2-1 win against Maccabi Tel-Aviv on 14 May 2017 – his only victory in seven games against the club (D2 L4).

• Solomon has played alongside a number of Maccabi Tel-Aviv players for both the Israeli senior and Under-21 teams. He scored his first senior international goal in a 1-0 win at home to Scotland in the UEFA Nations League on 18 November 2020 – a match in which Sheran Yeini and Eytan Tibi started and Eyal Golasa and Yonatan Cohen came on as substitutes.

• Maccabi Tel-Aviv's interim coach Patrick van Leeuwen was Shakhtar's academy director from 2008 to 2013.

Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC
Formed: 1906
Nickname: The Yellows

UEFA club competition honours
• None

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
League title: 23 (2020)
Israeli Cup: 23 (2015)

Ten-year record (UEFA Europa League unless indicated otherwise)
2019/20: third qualifying round (having transferred from UEFA Champions League second qualifying round)
2018/19: play-offs
2017/18: group stage
2016/17: group stage
2015/16: UEFA Champions League group stage
2014/15: play-offs (having transferred from UEFA Champions League third qualifying round)
2013/14: round of 32 (having transferred from UEFA Champions League third qualifying round)
2012/13: did not take part in UEFA competition
2011/12: group stage
2010/11: play-offs

Records
UEFA club competition
• Biggest home win
6-0 twice, most recently v Željezničar
04/08/11, UEFA Europa League third qualifying round second leg

• Biggest away win
0-3 three times, most recently v Sūduva
26/08/20, UEFA Champions League second qualifying round

• Heaviest home defeat
0-4: Maccabi v Chelsea
24/11/15, UEFA Champions League group stage

• Heaviest away defeat
5-1 twice, most recently v Beşiktaş
15/09/11, UEFA Europa League group stage
4-0 three times, most recently v Villarreal
05/11/20, UEFA Europa League group stage

UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League
• Biggest home win
6-0 twice, most recently v Željezničar (see above)

• Biggest away win
0-3: Tirana v Maccabi
06/07/17, first qualifying round second leg

• Heaviest home defeat
0-2: Maccabi v Slavia Praha
23/11/17, group stage

• Heaviest away defeat
5-1: Beşiktaş v Maccabi (see above)
4-0 twice, most recently v Villarreal (see above)

FC Shakhtar Donetsk
Formed: 1936
Nickname: Hirnyky (The Pitmen)

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)
• UEFA Cup (1): 2009
• UEFA Super Cup: (2009)

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
Ukrainian league title: 13 (2020)
USSR/Ukrainian Cup: 17 (2019)

Ten-year European record (UEFA Europa League unless indicated otherwise)
2019/20: semi-finals (having transferred from UEFA Champions League group stage)
2018/19: round of 32 (having transferred from UEFA Champions League group stage)
2017/18: UEFA Champions League round of 16
2016/17: round of 32 (having transferred from UEFA Champions League third qualifying round)
2015/16: semi-finals (having transferred from UEFA Champions League group stage)
2014/15: UEFA Champions League round of 16
2013/14: round of 32 (having transferred from UEFA Champions League group stage)
2012/13: UEFA Champions League round of 16
2011/12: UEFA Champions League group stage
2010/11: UEFA Champions League quarter-finals

Records
UEFA club competition
• Biggest home win
5-0 three times, most recently v Gent
20/10/16, UEFA Europa League group stage

• Biggest away win
0-7: BATE Borisov v Shakhtar
21/10/14, UEFA Champions League group stage

• Heaviest home defeat
0-6: Shakhtar v Borussia Mönchengladbach
03/11/20, UEFA Champions League group stage

• Heaviest away defeat
7-0: Bayern München v Shakhtar
11/03/15, UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg

UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League
• Biggest home win
5-0: Shakhtar v Gent (see above)

• Biggest away win
0-4: Birkirkara v Shakhtar
29/07/98, first qualifying round second leg

• Heaviest home defeat
1-3 twice, most recently v AZ Alkmaar
10/03/05, round of 16 first leg
0-2: Shakhtar v Celta Vigo (aet)
23/02/17, round of 32 second leg

• Heaviest away defeat
5-1: Austria Wien v Shakhtar
17/09/02, first round first leg
4-0: Zürich v Shakhtar
13/08/98, second qualifying round first leg
Shakhtar also lost 5-0 to Internazionale in the 2020 semi-final in Düsseldorf, a match in which they were the designated away side