NOS Football•
Feyenoord will meet the Ukrainian top club Shakhtar Donetsk in the eighth finals of the Europa League, as the draw in Nyon revealed. The team from Rotterdam will start with an away match on March 9. The return is on March 16.
As group winner, Feyenoord qualified for the eighth finals. Ajax and PSV were eliminated in the intermediate round on Thursday. Shakhtar was too strong for the French Rennes in the intermediate round after taking penalties. Because of the war, the Ukrainians play their European home games in Warsaw, Poland.
Without Moedrik
In the last transfer window, Shakhtar Donetsk lost star player Mychajlo Moedryk to Chelsea. The club donated a large part of the transfer fee to Ukrainian soldiers and their families. Shakhtar has not played in its home city of Donetsk for years, due to the ongoing unrest in the region close to the Russian border.
With former Ajax player Lassina Traoré, Shakhtar has a familiar face at the point of the attack.
Feyenoord met the thirteen-time champion of Ukraine once before in a European context. In the 2017/2018 season, the Ukrainians won 2-1 in Rotterdam in the group stage of the Champions League and 3-1 in Kharkiv.
Erik ten Hags Manchester United will take on Real Betis in the next round. The only restriction in the draw was that clubs from the same country cannot play against each other. The final of the Europa League will be played on May 31 in Budapest, Hungary.
