Shakhtar satisfied with 'good draw'

The two sides were paired together for the last-16 of the Champions League when the draw was made on Monday, with both sides retaining realistic ambitions of progressing further in the competition.

"Roma is not the worst option, given that the possible rivals included Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United," Palkin told Shakhtar's official website. "I reсkon this is a good draw for us.

"Shakhtar already met Roma in the Champions League last-16 in 2011, and we advanced back then. We’ve got some successful experience with this team, and we should take advantage of that to display the kind of football our fans will enjoy, and to do our best to make it through to the next round.

"It’s worth noting that the Italians advanced from the group being in the top spot, ahead of Chelsea and Atletico Madrid. This is a very revealing fact, which confirms the opponents’ high class. In addition, Roma currently features a number of strong players: Radja Nainggolan, Edin Dzeko, the goalkeeper Alisson. These days, those are high-level players."

Shakhtar will play the first leg at home, in what will be one of the team's first games after an extended winter break.

"We must prepare very and very seriously for the match, especially since that’s one of our team’s opening games next year - immediately after a two-and-a-half-month break," he added.

"It’s necessary for us to be up to the mark both physically and mentally, and not to forget that Roma showcase a very high-quality football, being considered one of the Italian league favourites.

"We need to take into account all those subtleties, to consider every detail, because there are no minor things in football."

Taras Stepanenko was among the Shakhtar players to react to the draw, with the experienced midfielder satisfied to face the Giallorossi - comparing them to Napoli, who they faced in the group stage (winning 2-1 at home, losing 3-0 away).

"I’m happy with the draw, because of all the rivals we could’ve got, Roma are about the same level with us," Stepanenko said. "A good team with a number of very skilful players. They displayed excellent results in their quartet, but still they're neither Barcelona nor PSG. We also advanced from a strong group, I suppose our chances are pretty good.

"In some ways, we could even compare Roma with Napoli: they use the same formation as the Neapolitans used against us in Kharkiv. The Romans have three strong central midfielders - De Rossi, Strootman and Nainggolan, who often run into open spaces, along with the towering striker Dzeko who always responds to crosses, and a wonderful winger Perotti.

"The only difference is that Napoli have a more organized defensive third, while Roma focus on attacking – they score quite many goals, but they also concede many goals."

Defender Ivan Ordets added: "It's not bad that we haven’t been drawn against such clubs as Barcelona and PSG, we wanted to see Besiktas or Roma. Good opponents. I'm not saying they are weak, being, in my opinion, just more ‘convenient’ opponents.

"In the last-16 everyone’s strong, so there will be no easy fixtures."