Shakhtar Donetsk announced their Champions League qualification on Wednesday evening and were met with a comical response from Manchester City's social media team.
Shakhtar clinched qualification to the Champions League group stage with a sensational 3-2 aggregate win over AS Monaco on Wednesday, after clawing back from a two-goal deficit suffered in the first leg.
City qualified for the Champions League group stages by winning the Premier League last campaign. This season will mark the tenth successive year the Cityzens have qualified for Europe's premier club competition, the longest streak in English football.
Pep Guardiola's side will hope to go one better than last season, where they struggled to find their stride in a 1-0 final defeat to Chelsea, who lifted the famous 'big ears' trophy for the second time in a decade.
City fans will know the history between Shakhtar and the Sky Blues, as they always seem to meet at the Champions League group stages.
Last season marked the first time in three years where City had not been drawn with the Ukrainian club, a quite impressive feat considering the wealth of clubs either team could have been drawn against.
City and Shakhtar have a unique history due to the number of players that have played for both clubs. City legend Fernandinho was bought from Shakhtar in 2013 for £34million and has proved a consistent servant ever since. Oleksandr Zinchenko was a youth product of the Shakhtar academy and former City playmaker Elano also joined from the Donetsk club.
In response to a post from Shakhtar, where they announced their excitement about qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League, Manchester City replied:
This comical response prompted City fans to react on Twitter to the potential of seeing another City vs Shakhtar fixture in Europe:
@WalterOsaretin: "Lmao, this football club tho"
@CorinneStanley: "Death, taxes, and this"
@MCFC_GS11: "See you tomorrow then."
@dmuro88: "City and Shakhtar, name a better duo!"
City certainly will not be discouraged about facing the Ukrainian side, considering their excellent record over them. Over six games since 2017, City have been victorious on four occasions. The pick of the bunch was a 6-0 home victory, where recently converted right-winger Gabriel Jesus netted a glorious hat-trick, the first of his senior career.
