Every year Shakhtar, as the Ukrainian champion, get a place in the Champions League main round, but they perform worse and worse. Not once in the last six Champions League draws has the team gone further than the group stage. In the first round they visited Bologna, but showed absolutely nothing in terms of soccer – an unassisted penalty at the very beginning of the game, and then 86-plus minutes of holding off the opponent’s attacks without the slightest hint of counterplay.
After defeating Lecce in the first round with a score of 4:0, Atalanta played six games in various tournaments, but managed to get only one victory in them. The Nerazzurri failed to win in the opening match of the Champions League, although a zero draw with Arsenal is more of a success.
Shakhtar are unstable this season, and they were saved from defeat in the first round of the Champions League only by the reliable play of the goalkeeper and poor realization of their chances by the opponent. Atalanta have outperformed each of their last three opponents and the lack of wins here is just bad luck.