Shakhtar Donetsk and Viktoria Plzen were given an unfortunate draw in the Europa League round of 32. Both teams dropped out of the Champions League as third place teams in their respective groups and one of them will meet their doom in the first knockout round of Europe's minor tournament.
Both teams know what is at stake and have already complimented their rivals.
"Shakhtar are a very strong team and I don't think we are going to be the favourites in this tie," said Plzen midfielder David Limberský, according to UEFA.com. "It will be a memorable occasion for [Shakhtar's Czech defender] Tomáš Hübschman, and they also have some great Brazilian players - they are tremendously strong opponents. I also know their stadium is very good. I can promise on behalf of my dressing room that we are going to do everything to qualify, but it will be really hard.
"I think Plzeň are a decent side. I know little about them right now, but I watched their game when they beat [PFC] CSKA Moskva [on matchday six]," added Shakhtar defender Yaroslav Rakitskiy. "We're determined to go far in the Europa League after bowing out of the Champions League. We'll have a training camp this winter and make sure we're back to our best for the upcoming matches."
Shakhtar finished third in Group A with eight points; the Ukrainian side had a chance to qualify with a victory over Manchester United on the final day of the group stage, but failed to muster any results. The team finished with two wins, two draws and two losses in that part of the tournament despite scoring seven goals and only conceded six.
Viktoria Plzen qualified for the Europa League on the final day of the group stage. After losing its first five games of the group stage, the team defeated CSKA Moscow at home by the score of 2-1; the team had lost 3-2 in Moscow in the first meeting between the teams and wound up with the away goal tiebreaker.