Partizan's hopes of furthering their Champions League adventure were tremendously slim at the start of the campaign and after Matchday 4 they evaporated altogether. The Serbian giants have yet to register a single point and are rock-bottom of Group H with four successive defeats.
Aleksandar Stanojevic's side are one of three teams in the competition on zero point and are down and out. Partizan are doing great in the Serbian Super Liga as they are three points ahead of Red Star Belgrade in pole position and have won six matches in succession but in the Champions League they are a mess.
Coach Stanojevic is still hopeful of cheering up his side's supporters with a victory over Shakhtar on Tuesday night and enthuses, "Unfortunately this game doesn't have any competitive meaning for us, but we owe it to our fans, for having supported us in the Champions League, to give our best and get a positive result."
History In The Making
Shakhtar Donetsk have never qualified for the knockout stage of the Champions League but heading into Matchday 5 the Ukrainian side are on the verge of doing just that. With nine points from three games, the 2009 UEFA Cup winner are level on points with Arsenal at the top of Group H.
A win in Serbia for Shakhtar and failure of Braga to defeat Arsenal in Portugal in the other game in the group will see Shakhtar go through to the second round. Mircea Lucescu's side will qualify even with a draw provided Arsenal win against Braga, and defender Dmytro Chygrynsky wants the suspense to get over tonight.
The former Barcelona defender told Shakhtar.com: "We are going to Belgrade to settle the issue of our qualification from the group. We need to win. If we claim the victory, then I think our target of going through to the knockout stage will be reached.
"Naturally, Partizan want to please their fans, they have nothing to lose. But we are also seriously preparing for this clash. I think that Shakhtar's motivation is more serious. We still have the chance of qualifying from the group.''
TEAM NEWS
Partizan
The Serbian side have a full-strength squad as Cleo has recovered from a knee injury.
Shakhtar Donetsk
Darijo Srna and Eduardo sat out the weekend game against Zorya Luhansk. Fernandinho is out until 2011 because of a broken leg.
Prediction
Shakhtar are on the verge of qualifying for the second round but winning against Partizan in Belgrade is not going to be easy. There is even the prospect of the Ukrainians losing in Serbia but in most likelihood the game is going to end in a draw.
Partizan 1-1 Shakhtar 
