Marseille are looking to put their recent European woes behind them as they take on Shakhtar Donetsk in the playoff round for a place in the Europa League knockout stages.
Shakhtar Donetsk find themselves down in the Europa League after finishing 3rd in Champions League Group H, a group that contained Barcelona, Porto and Antwerp.
The Ukrainian side were never really expected to progress from that group given the constraints they're currently working under and although they'll feel they could've given it a better crack after displaying some promise they'll be satisfied with their effort.
The defending champions of Ukraine have a pretty decent history in this competition having won the trophy back in 2008-09 while also reaching the semi-final stage in 2015-16 and 2019-20.
Their domestic season has been solid as they currently sit 4th in the league table, three points shy of top spot with two games in hand.
Their last game in this competition was somewhat of a calamity, with the Ukranians falling to a 7-1 second leg defeat at the hands of Feyenoord last season.
They'll want to give a better account of themselves here no doubt, but they're facing another tough opponent so it won't be easy.
Shakhtar haven't played a competitive game since they were beaten 5-3 at Porto in the final game of the Champions League group stage due to the lengthy winter break in Eastern Europe, so they're coming into this one dealing with an added constraint.
They've got a tough draw here and will do well to overcome it, but we've seen sides come out of far bigger mismatches in the past.
Marseille reached the playoff round for the Europa League knockout stages by finishing 2nd in Europa League group B which contained Brighton & Hove Albion, Ajax and AEK Athens.
Marseille performed solidly in the group without being overly impressive, which is not bad going for a side that have struggled in Europe a lot over the past few seasons.
They're not performing particularly well domestically this season either, with the side from the South of France currently down in 8th in the league table, winless in their last five games with their only win in their last seven outings coming against 3rd division side Thionville Lusitanos in the Coupe de France.
Marseille are a turbulent club off the field with things behind the scenes very rarely calm or structured, and that's really reflecting on the pitch this season where they'll largely been a dishevelled mess.
They have a good draw here but you could make a good argument they're one of the sides most vulnerable to an upset in this round.
For our Shakhtar Donetsk vs. Marseille prediction, we're going for a 1-1 draw.
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