Shakhtar seeking home comforts - 7M sport

Shakhtar seeking home comforts

Posted Thursday, October 01, 2009 by PA

Shakhtar Donetsk's new 50,000-capacity Donbass Arena makes its European debut and last season's UEFA Cup champions hope it inspires them to continue their winning start in the revamped competition.

The US dollars 400million project is eastern Europe's first stadium to meet UEFA's elite-class standard and was designed by ArupSport, the company responsible for the City of Manchester Stadium, home of Manchester City, and Munich's Allianz Arena.

The stadium was opened with a 4-0 Premier League win over Obolon Kiev on Sunday, and injured defender Oleksandr Chyzov told the club website: "I had a feeling I was not in Donetsk, but somewhere abroad, in England or Spain.

"There was a crazy atmosphere. I suppose we, Shakhtar players, should do our best in future, performing at such a beautiful arena."

Chyzov (knee) remains sidelined but has begun running and will soon resume full training, but Marius Lewandowski played down injury fears after being left out of the Obolon clash and Igor Duljaj prepares to face his former club.

Captain Darijo Srna is in confident mood and has set his sights on repeating last season's success, telling uefa.com: "I think - no, I know - we're favourites to win the competition this year."

The match will be a special one for Partizan defender Goran Gavrancic, who represented Shakhtar's domestic rivals Dynamo Kiev for eight seasons before joining Partizan and called on Duljaj to "crack a couple of jokes" in the build-up to the game.

Gavrancic told the Shakhtar website: "I talked to (coach Goran Stevanovic) but I can scarcely tell him anything new - Shakhtar have appeared in the European Cups regularly and become the UEFA Cup winner."

Partizan lost their Group J opener 3-2 at home to Toulouse, a match marred by violence beforehand resulting in the death of Les Violets fan Brice Taton.

Gavrancic added: "We have a lot of young players in our squad and we simply did not have enough Euro cup experience. Otherwise, we did not yield."

Midfielder Nemanja Tomic was named in the starting line-up against BSK Borca on Sunday despite struggling with a knee injury, but was withdrawn early in the second half. Keeper Aleksandar Radosavljevic has impressed in the last two games since replacing Mladen Bozovic.

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