Rapid Vienna vs Shakhtar Donetsk Betting Tips

Rapid Vienna are playing in their first Champions League campaign since 2008, and are hoping to make the group stages for the first time since 2005 by winning this two-legged tie against Shakhtar Donetsk.

They definitely deserve their place in the playoff round as well, and got here by knocking out Dutch giants Ajax in 5-4 on aggregate in the last round of qualifying.

As far as form goes, they are in excellent shape. They haven’t lost since an Austrian Cup match back at the beginning of April, and they have won 16 of their 23 games since then.

This gives them an early lead in the Austrian Bundesliga, having collected an impressive 13 points from their opening 5 matches.

This puts them 2 points ahead of Admira, and 6 points above current domestic champions Red bull Salzburg.

Shakhtar Donetsk have only collected 10 points from their first 5 league matches, and are already 5 points behind defending champions Dynamo Kiev in the Ukrainian Premier League.

Dynamo Kiev took the Premier League off Shakhtar Donetsk for the first time in 5 years last season when they pipped them to the title, and regaining the title from their most fierce rivals will be their main goal this season.

Unlike their opponents, Shakhtar have a lot of recent history in the Champions League. They have participated in the group stages of the elite continental competition in each of the last 6 seasons, and made it to the knockout rounds last season before Bayern Munich eliminated them.

Rapid Vienna will have been hoping for an away game first, so they could try to hold on for a draw before taking them back to Austria. However, with that out of the window they will now need to go for a win on Wednesday.

I don’t think they’ll manage it, and will open themselves up to a more talented Shakhtar Donetsk attack. Odds of 29/20 for an away win look very attractive as well.