Preview

April 28, Mariupol, Volodymyr Boiko Stadium, 14:00
Live broadcast on Futbol 1 TV channel

Before the match

The game will open the Sunday matchday programme: on Easter, the starting whistle in Mariupol will sound quite early. On Saturday, Shakhtar will fly to Zaporizhya, then they will go to the destination by bus.

A large group of players will not be able to benefit the team in the upcoming match. Taison has been suspended, Andriy Pyatov and Taras Stepanenko got injured in the Clasico, while Marlos and Maycon recover after operations. However, the Orange-and-Blacks’ manager can count on the other performers who had less match practice recently, anticipating their chance and being ready to replace the leaders.

This is a reminder that on Wednesday, Paulo Fonseca’s men ended the clash with Dynamo in a draw, so they still enjoy a seven-point lead over the rivals. On Sunday night, the Kyivans will play in Lviv against the club bearing the same name.

Opponents

Mariupol sit in the fifth spot and compete with Zorya and Lviv for the Europa League qualifying stage berth. To accomplish the task, the Azov side need to get into the top four or keep the current position and hope that Shakhtar will win the Cup final against Inhulets. However, even the fifth spot is by no means guaranteed for Oleksandr Babich’s men as Lviv are only three points behind seven rounds away from the league season end.

In the spring part of the season, Mariupol produced different results: their victory over Olimpik was followed by three draws (vs Oleksandriia, Chornomorets, and Karpaty), was followed by a victory in Lviv (3-2) and two defeats (0-1 vs Dynamo and 1-2 vs Oleksandriia). The team have negative statistics of the scored and conceded goals: 28–38.

Head-to-head record

In 40 matches, Shakhtar secured 37 wins, also having three draws. The goal difference is 104-25. Mariupol hosted 20 games (+18=2, 49-14).

Previous league meeting

On December 7, the Miners claimed a 3-0 win in Mariupol. The first half ended with zeros on the scoreboard: Khudzhamov parried  away the shots by Bolbat, Matviienko, and Marlos, and Yavorskyi saved two attempts by Kovalenko. The champions took the lead in the 62nd minute after a beautiful overhead kick by Stepanenko. Shortly after that, Shakhtar carried out another effective attack, when Moraes got the ball just on time, and then Marlos marked his return to the field by scoring a goal after a six-week absence, sealing a 3-0 win.