It is too early to say that the reigning champion of Turkey has gotten out of the crisis. Basaksehir has not lost in the last three rounds, gaining five points in this series. After draws with Antalyaspor (0:0) and Konyaspor (1:1), the Istanbul club had a minimal victory over Genclerbirligi (1:0). These successes allowed Bashakshehir to leave the relegation zone and settle in 16th place in the standings. The wards of Aykut Kojaman have not yet protected themselves from the struggle for survival. Forward Fredrik Gulbrandsen and midfielder Nasser Schadli will miss the upcoming home match. Also, two defenders were injured, Junior and Leonardo Duarte.
The Ukrainian champion is the owner of the UEFA Cup and the finalist of the 2009 Super Cup. This season the Donetsk team started in the Champions League, where they performed well in the group and beat Real Madrid twice, which was not enough to make it to the 1/8 of the main club tournament in Europe. In the first confrontation of the spring the Pitmen faced Maccabi from Tel Aviv and beat the Israeli team on aggregate 3:0, for which we made a prediction. The start in the Cup of Ukraine ended unsuccessfully for the “moles”, where at the stage of the quarterfinals of the tournament the “orange-blacks” lost to “Agribusiness” (0:1) after extra time. In the Ukrainian Premier League tournament Luis Castro’s charges won 10 victories and drew six times after 17 rounds, which brought 36 points and the second position. The gap from the first Dynamo is four points. After being defeated by Zorya Luhansk (0:1), the Pitmen outplayed their fellow countrymen from Olimpik (1:0). Of course, one cannot fail to note the best performance of the team in the attack line, which hit the opponent’s goal 36 times. Today Malyshev, Dentinho and Stepanenko, whose knee is injured, will not be able to enter the field.
