Preview

March 2, Odesa, Chornomorets, 17:00
Live broadcast on Futbol 2 TV channel
 
Before the match
 
Shakhtar are confidently topping the league table, being 7 points ahead of Dynamo. In the first UPL game this year, the Orange-and-Blacks claimed a 2-0 victory over Oleksandriia who are competing for medals (with Marlos and Junior Moraes scoring goals), keeping clean sheets in 4 out of 5 previous rounds.
 
Paulo Fonseca’s side filled the period between the scheduled meetings with training routine. The Miners have no suspended players: Valerii Bondarenko missed the game vs Oleksandriia and has every chance of appearing on the pitch in Odesa. Oleksii Shevchenko and Bohdan Butko trained individually, while Dentinho and Wellington Nem have rejoined the general group. The newcomer Tete also joined Shakhtar.
 
Opponents
 
During the winter break, Chornomorets significantly updated the squad. Anatolii Didenko, Oleksii Savchenko, Yevhen Smyrnov, Artur Karnoza and Dmytro Leonov left, being replaced by equally experienced Premier League players – Volodymyr Arzhanov, Vitalii Hoshkoderya, Volodymyr Tanchyk, Yevhen Morozenko and Oeksandr Holikov. The club also expanded the selection of attackers by signing up Vasyl Pavlov and Arne Vilhamsson.
 
In the season’s autumn part, Angel Chervenkov’s men delivered a depressing display (having 1 win and 11 defeats after 12 games), but in the 2019 opener they secured a win (with the only goal of Hoshkoderya bringing the team 3 points in Lviv). The current gap between the Sailors and the bottom-of-the-table Arsenal is 7 points. Before the end of the first UPL stage, the Odesa team are still to play Shakhtar, Mariupol and Oleksandriia.
 
Due to suspensions, Ruslan Babenko and Volodymyr Koval will miss the match vs the champions, with the latter player spending 80 minutes with the reserve team recently.
 
Head-to-head record
 
Shakhtar had 49 league meetings with Chornomorets, claiming 35 victories. The Sailors won and drew on 7 occasions. The goal stats is 100–28 on aggregate and 60–40 in Odesa.
 
Previous league meeting
 
In the first stage, the teams produced a spectacular performance in Kharkiv. Chornomorets managed to keep the goal intact until the break, although it is worth noting two great chances of Fernando and Taison's free-kick attempt that hit the post. Moraes opened the scoring in the 57th minute, followed by Trubochkin's own goal, and with Taison sealing the win in the dying stages, making it 3-0.