Eduardo Alves da Silva played for Shakhtar and Arsenal during his career, before he retired.
The former striker joined Arsenal in 2007 after he burst onto the scene with Dinamo Zagreb, scoring 34 goals in 32 appearances.
He struggled to have a consistent run at Arsenal and eventually departed after three seasons with the club. Eduardo then joined Shakhtar in 2010 as he looked to revive his career.
The Brazilian-born Croatian scored in both games when Shakhtar met Arsenal in the Champions League in 2010.
Arsenal meet Shakhtar in the same competition 14 years later. Ahead of the game, Mikel Arteta has urged the gunners to focus on winning as they look to get back on track after their loss to Bournemouth on Saturday.
Eduardo reveals who he will be supporting on Tuesday
Having played for both clubs, the former striker was coy when asked who he would be supporting in the Champions league tie on Tuesday.
“This is actually a very difficult question; I will have to challenge myself a bit to provide the right answer. However, considering that I communicate with you and remember those wonderful years that I spent in Ukraine, I will choose Shakhtar with great hesitation. Both clubs are extremely close and important to me, they have a special place in my heart, but given the situation in Ukraine and considering that my son was born there, although he does not have Ukrainian citizenship, but has a birth certificate in Ukraine, tomorrow I will support Shakhtar. Ukraine is familiar to me, and all these factors influence my decision.”
The two teams head into Tuesday night’s clash in contrasting forms; Arsenal have yet to lose a game in the Champions League, while Shakhtar are winless.
Former Arsenal player recalls his time in England
After an up and down career at Arsenal, Eduardo still has a soft spot for the gunners. The 41-year old remembers his days in England back in 2007:
“Going back to those years, I think that Arsenal were going through a good period during my stay in the team. It was a great season, we consistently finished high, showed attacking play and delighted the fans. Later, the situation changed somewhat. I won’t say it was because I left, but it just so happened that Arsenal couldn’t get into the Champions League for a long time, even though they used to be regular participants in the tournament. The team even ended up in the middle of the Premier League standings, not fighting for big results. Of course, I am glad that this trend has changed and now Arsenal are once again one of the dominant clubs.”
Oleksandr Zinchenko will be up against many of his international teammates when Arsenal face Shakhtar, including highly rated Georgiy Sudakov.
Zinchenko, who spent over four seasons at Manchester City, recently revealed how much they were paying him during their title winning campaigns.