SHAKHTAR Donetsk has escaped Ukraine’s war zone, but it is well outside Bayern Munich’s comfort zone.

  After last month’s unexpected 4-1 thrashing at Wolfsburg, a result that punctured the German champion’s aura of invincibility, Bayern now meets Shakhtar, a refugee team from war-torn eastern Ukraine that has left its home city, for a place in the Champions League quarterfinals.

  Even though Shakhtar’s temporary home in Lviv, western Ukraine, is around 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) from the conflict in the east, Bayern travels with apprehension.

  ‘’It’s hard to grasp and (it is) a unique experience to be playing against a team that is based in a crisis area,’’ forward Thomas Mueller said. ‘’Somehow, it’s a surreal situation. You know there is this terrible war out there, but you don’t really realize it because you don’t really know such a situation personally.’’

  After the Wolfsburg defeat, Bayern has taken time to return to its ruthless best, but did so Saturday with an 8-0 rout of Hamburger SV in the Bundesliga. It was a timely boost ahead of the Champions League – ‘’a good dress rehearsal’’ according to Mueller.

  With its players forced to leave their homes, due to the conflict, Shakhtar’s form this season has been mixed.

The Ukrainian team boasts the Champions League’s top scorer in Luiz Adriano, who scored nine goals in the group stage, including eight against severely outclassed Group H outsider BATE Borisov.

  Shakhtar, however, labored to a draw and defeat against out-of-sorts Athletic Bilbao and won only once in Lviv. Shakhtar also goes into the Bayern game without having played a competitive game in two months due to the Ukrainian league’s winter break.