Fulham manager Roy Hodgson does not think his team could have been handed a harder Europa League draw.
After finishing second in a group that included AS Roma, CSKA Sofia and FC Basel, the Cottagers will have to beat last season's UEFA Cup winners Shakhtar Donetsk if they want to enjoy a last-16 test against either Ajax or Juventus.
Shakhtar topped a group which included Club Brugge, Toulouse and Partizan Belgrade to make the last 32 of the competition.
Hodgson said of the draw:"It doesn't get much harder than playing the champions I suppose. We saw last year what a good team they are.
"Last year was a great success for Ukrainian football with Dinamo Kiev reaching the semi-final as well so we couldn't have asked for a much tougher draw.
"On the other hand we've battled hard to get through the group stage and we were hoping for a good game, an interesting game.
"I've just been looking at their squad and I think there are 13 foreign players, some of them Brazilians.
"They're a wealthy club. They buy players for a lot of money and obviously they're one of the top two teams in their league and they've also proved they're one of the top teams in European football."
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