Group C winners Roma head to Ukraine on Wednesday night to battle Shakhtar Donetsk. The teams will play in freezing temperatures and possible snow. With temperatures below zero for Wednesday night's match, the outcome of the last-16 first leg could be heavily dictated by the weather.
Shakhtar and Roma have met before in European competition. However, the two clubs do not have a recent history, as they last played each other in 2011. The sides have met four times since 2006, with Shakhtar winning three of those four meetings. Yet, with no recent matches against each other, it is difficult to draw any conclusions heading into this year's Champions League last-16.
Roma topped Group C thanks to a superior head-to-head record against second place Chelsea. The Italians currently sit third in Serie A and have won their last three matches in Italy. Roma don't have the same attacking power as they did a season ago. The team's sale of winger Mohamed Salah greatly depleted its impressive attacking strength. Roma can still deploy Stephan El Sharaawy and Diego Perotti either side of striker Edin Dzeko, however. Dzeko leads the team with 11 goals while El Sharaawy has added five, and Perotti four times. All three are in the squad and available for selection. It is very possible manager Eusebio Di Francesco will save either El Sharaawy or Perotti as a second half substitute.
Shakhtar finished second in Group F. The team came just behind Manchester City, who Shakhtar defeated on the final group stage matchday. The Ukrainian side not only won against Manchester City, but Shakhtar completely dominated the fixture. The score may have been 2-1, but Manchester City didn't register their goal until the second minute of stoppage-time. Even then it took a Sergio Aguero penalty to get on the scoreboard.
Shakhtar unexpectedly qualified ahead of Serie A's Napoli. The team won't be afraid going up against an Italian team that many claim are superior.
Perhaps Shakhtar's biggest problem ahead of the fixture is their recent lack of matches. The Ukrainian league has just come back from its winter break. The time off saw two months pass between Shakhtar fixtures. The side did play on February 16th and Shakhtar rolled to a 5-0 victory over Chernomorets Odessa.
In the Champions League, Shakhtar don't score a lot of goals, and thoughts of a 5-0 scoreline against Roma can be forgotten about. The Ukrainian club had a zero-goal differential in Group F. Although the team didn't score many goals in the group stage, Shakhtar are +25 in goals in the Ukranian Premier League. Of course, Roma are a big step above those sides. Roma average 1.6 goals per game and keep the ball 56.5% of the time.
Roma maybe the better side on paper, but the cold Ukrainian weather should be the great equaliser on Wednesday night. A score draw would be a great result for Roma, but the home advantage might be crucial for the outcome of this match.