Shakhtar Donetsk look to stun Bayern Munich

Shakhtar Donetsk coach Mircea Lucescu is hoping his players can become "heroes" when they take on Bayern Munich in the last 16 of the Champions League (kick-off 7.45pm).

Reaching the quarter-finals of European football’s elite club competition for only the second time since 2011 is a big ask for the Pitmen.

They will go out in Lviv tonight knowing there has rarely been a greater underdog for a Champions League knockout stage encounter and Lucescu is relishing the task at hand.

“We will be heroes if we knock them out,” he said yesterday.

Some 13 of the Shakhtar squad come from Brazil, including Bernard who played in the 7-1 World Cup semi-final defeat to Germany last summer.

Lucescu is hoping his South American contingent can use that as a motivation.

“We’ve got 13 Brazilian players dreaming of gaining revenge against Bayern’s German contingent for what happened at the World Cup,” he said.

That defiance, according to Bayern forward Arjen Robben, is what makes Shakhtar so dangerous. “I don’t like people talking about the quarter-finals or semis or saying: ‘When will you meet Madrid or Barca?’,” Robben said.

“It’s Shakhtar and nothing more.”