Soccer

Shakhtar Donetsk vs. Roma 2018 live stream: Time, TV schedule, and how to watch Champions League online

Roma face a tough trip to face a resurgent Shakhtar Donetsk.

Updated Feb 21, 2018, 4:07 PM UTC

Photo by Emilio Andreoli/Getty Images

AS Roma have had a lot of ups and downs this season, sitting in third place in Serie A but well out of the title race they’d hoped to be in. But they’re still alive in the Champions League, and their Round of 16 journey begins on Wednesday with a difficult trip to face Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine.

Roma are on a three-match winning streak right now, but they’ve struggled with injuries all season long, and that’s lead to some spells of very uneven form. Local star Alessandro Florenzi is in question with an illness, and with an already-thin attacking group getting worn out of late, that doesn’t bode well for Roma’s squad on the day. But if Eusebio Di Francesco has done anything at Roma, it’s been to instill a culture of always rising to the occasion -- and the Champions League knockout rounds are one heck of an occasion to rise to.

Shakhtar were once a regular, fun team to see in the Champions League, putting on entertaining performances and dramatic upsets. This is a very different Shakhtar team now, though, with much of the side that had excited us for several years moving on to bigger clubs, or just away from the years-long unrest and conflict in Ukraine. That doesn’t mean that they don’t have a good team, though — Facundo Ferreyra is scoring freely for them up top, and he’s backed by a midfield equal parts tough and excitingly talented. They had to fight through a tough group to get this far and got some huge wins to do it, including triumphs over Manchester City and Napoli, and they’re not going to back down from a fight now.