Preview

June 20, Kyiv, NSC Olimpiyskiy, 19:30

Before the match

Shakhtar’s motivationis to win the game and become the champions in this round. The Miners started defending the title thisseason with the UPL opening 3-1 win vs Oleksandriia. And with the Premier League resumption, they were stronger in 3 games: vs Dynamo (3-1), vs Desna (3-2) and vs Kolos (1-0)-they took place at the NSC Olimpiyskiy in Kyiv, but in the latter casethe Orange-and-Blacks were the visiting team.There are 6 rounds left until the end of the 2019/20Сhampionship.

Luis Castro’s men started preparing for the meeting with Oleksandriiaon Tuesday, June 16.The injured players are Ismaily, Valerii Bondar and Maycon. Due to minor injuries, Taras Stepanenko and Junior Moraes trained individually, still having a few more days to approach the game in proper form. Meanwhile, Marcos Antonio is about to rejoin the ranks after being suspended for one game.

Opponents

Oleksandriia who won bronze medals a year ago for the first time in history, currently sit in the 5th spot, being 6 points adrift of Desna and Zorya.Before quarantine, the team opened the second stage with a 4-2 home victory over Kolos. After the break, they claimed a narrow win at Zorya (1-0), later suffering two major setbacks though.

Volodymyr Sharan’s men proved stronger in a half of their league games (13 of 26), along with 4 draws and 9 defeats. The recent meetings with Dynamo and Desna (1-5 on both occasions) have thoroughly spoiled the goal difference (as a result of which the number of goals conceded is close to the number of goals scored (37–35).

Hlib Bukhal (four yellow cards) and Vladyslav Babohlo (sent off in the previous round) have been suspended.

Head-to-head record

Shakhtar had 20 meetings with Oleksandriia. 17 of them ended in Shakhtar’s victories, along with 2 draws and 1 defeat. The Miners scored 39 goals and conceded 13.

Previous league meeting