Shakhtar Donetsk host Crystal Palace in the first leg of the UEFA Conference League semi-final in Krakow on Tuesday, kick-off 20:00 BST, with Arda Turan leading the Ukrainian side as they aim to edge closer to the final in Leipzig on 27 May.
Turan’s team reached the last four by beating AZ Alkmaar 5-2 on aggregate and carry a Conference League record this season of six wins, two draws and two defeats, scoring 19 and conceding 10. Shakhtar finished sixth in the 36-team League Phase and moved eight points clear at the top of the Ukrainian Premier League last weekend after a 3-1 win over Kudrivka; they still have five games remaining at home in domestic competition. The club’s European pedigree is long-standing — Shakhtar won the UEFA Cup in 2009 and remain the only Ukrainian club to win a major European title since independence.
Crystal Palace arrive in Krakow after a quarter-final victory over Fiorentina — a tie they won 4-2 on aggregate after a 3-0 success at Selhurst Park was followed by a 2-1 defeat in the second leg. Palace are in their maiden major European campaign and progressed to the semi-finals following wins over Zrinjski Mostar (3-1 on aggregate) and AEK Larnaca (2-1 on aggregate after extra time), having opened their Conference League group with a 2-0 victory over Dynamo Kiev in Poland. In Europe this season Palace have played seven away games, winning three, drawing one and losing two.
Domestically Palace sit 13th in the Premier League after a 3-1 defeat at Liverpool last weekend, six points off the top seven and nine clear of the relegation zone. Managerial decisions and matchday selections matter: Brennan Johnson was replaced by Yeremy Pino in Palace’s starting line-up for the first leg, a change that underlines the squad rotation Palace have used across a congested schedule.
Shakhtar will field a lineup heavy with Brazilian talent — seven Brazilians are named in their starting XI — and continue to stage their European home matches away from Donetsk, using the Henryk Reyman Municipal Stadium for Conference League fixtures since the 2022 invasion changed the club’s situation. Turan, who took charge in May last year after a playing career that included 100 caps for Turkiye and appearances at Euro 2008 and Euro 2016, has repeatedly talked about the bigger frame around the football: he has reflected on the club’s progress, insisted his players must stick to their principles and play with confidence, and said that amid the war people continue to live their lives.
Those tensions — a side rebuilding its European stature under a high-profile manager while playing away from its traditional home, versus an English club on an unexpected continental run — create the clearest friction of the tie. Shakhtar’s route to the semis included a 4-3 aggregate victory over Lech Poznan in the last 16 and the club have a manager who says he learned from leading coaches and is trying to put those lessons into practice on the pitch. Palace, meanwhile, must manage the strains of Premier League fixtures and European travel while protecting the momentum that carried them past Fiorentina.
The winner of this two-legged tie will face either Rayo Vallecano or Strasbourg in the final in Leipzig on 27 May. For Palace, a positive result in Krakow would keep alive a maiden European run and offer a rarely seen late-season distraction from midtable league fights. For Shakhtar, victory would continue a campaign that mixes continental ambition with a domestic title push and underline Turan’s claim that he had a dream of this moment and sees great potential in his group.
Everything from team selection to the first goal will matter; the single most consequential unanswered question is simple and immediate — can Palace return to London with a result that keeps them on course for Leipzig, or will Turan’s Shakhtar use their depth, momentum and Brazilian firepower to take control of a tie that will be decided over 180 minutes?
