Group D
Kick-off: 19:45 (BST)
Benfica coach Jose Antonio Camacho is staying calm despite his team’s goal drought as they prepare to face Shakhtar Donetsk.
“It’s going to be difficult to win, but scoring a goal will change the whole situation,” Camacho said.
Saturday’s goalless draw with local rivals Sporting Clube de Portugal means Benfica have not scored in open play since Nuno Gomes’s injury-time strike in the 2-1 loss at Milan on Matchday 1.
The former Spain coach refuses to pin the blame solely at the feet of his forwards.
“We don’t have a problem in attack, we have a problem scoring goals,” he admitted. “It’s not just down to the strikers to score. The full-backs have to get their crosses in, and midfielders such as [Angel] Di María and [Cristián] Rodríguez can score too.”
Shakhtar are nine points clear at the top of the Ukrainian Premier League having won ten and drawn one of their opening eleven games.
Coach Mircea Lucescu is confident his side can build on the 2-0 success against Celtic a fortnight ago.
“We have plenty of young players, all with lots of quality,” said Lucescu. “And we are a good team, as we showed against Celtic.
“We have four or five Brazilians, and they have four or five Latin players as well from Brazil and Argentina. The match will have a very high technical level.”
