"Shakhtar vs. Dynamo: Preview of the Donetsk team's first friendly match against the Croatians during their training camp in Turkey."

On Thursday, January 9, Donetsk's "Shakhtar" will play their first friendly match during their training camp in Turkey. Their opponent will be Croatian "Dinamo" Zagreb. The match will take place in the city of Belek and will kick off at 16:00 Kyiv time.

The "miners" are purposefully preparing for the decisive matches of the main stage of the revamped Champions League through these friendly games – on January 22, Marino Puzich's team will face French "Brest", and a week later, on January 29, they will meet with Borussia Dortmund. During their training camp in Turkey, the Donetsk team has three friendlies planned – in addition to the Croatians, the "orange-blacks" will also play against Bulgarian CSKA and "Ludogorets".

Matches against Zagreb's "Dinamo" have traditionally been challenging for Shakhtar. In their last five encounters, the "miners" have suffered two defeats and recorded three draws. It’s also worth noting that the Croatians have two upcoming matches in the Champions League – against London’s "Arsenal" (January 22) and Italian "Milan" (January 29).

In the Champions League standings, Shakhtar currently sits in 27th place after 6 rounds, with a total of 4 points. Dinamo Zagreb is in 24th place with 8 points.

FAVBET considers the teams' chances of victory to be equal – 2.50. A draw is quoted at 3.40. Experts do not have a definitive answer regarding the match's scoring: the standard total of over 2.5 is set at 1.71, while the total of under 2.5 is at 1.97.

Where to watch the friendly match between Shakhtar and Dinamo Zagreb

All of Donetsk's friendlies will be broadcast live on the club's YouTube channel. The match against the Croatians can be watched here.