Roma at Shakhtar Donetsk 2/21/18 - Champions League Picks & Predictions

Two teams that have suffered in the round of 16 of the Champions League over the years will now look to improve their record on Wednesday, when Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk will play host to Italian powerhouse Roma. The two teams have also met against one another in the past, with the Ukrainians having prevailed back in 2011.

Shakhtar Donetsk made a really nice run in the Group Stage of the Champions League earlier in the season, where they finished at the 2nd spot of Group F with 12 points, second only to Manchester City. Shakhtar are playing their Champions League home games in Kharkiv this season due to the political situation in Ukraine, and have won six of their last 14 home matches in the competition (6-3-5). They won all three home fixtures in the Group Stage, and were the first team to defeat Manchester City this season. However, they have lost in their last two round of 16 appearances, against Dortmund and Bayern Munich. Even so, they remained undefeated in each of their last three home matches in this round (1-0-2). Roma were also in a difficult group in the Champions League, but they managed to finish at the top spot with 11 points, leaving Chelsea 2nd and Atletico Madrid 3rd. Last season they managed to reach the round of 16 of the Europa League, where they were eliminated by Lyon (5-4 aggregate). Roma won two of their five away fixtures in last season's Europa League, but in the Champions League they were without a victory in ten away matches, including qualifying (0-5-5), before matchday two. Their record in the round of 16 of the Champions League is W2 L3, having defeated Lyon (2006/07) and Real Madrid (2007/08) in their first two appearances, but have since lost to Arsenal (2008/09), Shakhtar Donetsk (2010/11) and Real Madrid (2015/16).