Preview

1st March, Poltava, A. Butovskyi Vorskla stadium, 17:00
Live broadcast on Futbol 1 channel

Before the match

On Friday, Shakhtar returned from the capital of Portugal, where they fulfilled their objective in the return game vs Benfica (3-3, 5-4 on aggregate) and reached the Europa League Round of 16. The Miners’ next opponents are already known - the German Wolfsburg. The games will take place on March 12 and March 19, with the tickets for the return game in Kharkiv having gone on sale now.

In the meantime, the Miners are switching to the domestic Championship. In the first 8 days of spring, the team are to play 3 games: vs Vorskla, vs Dnipro-1, and vs Kolos. In the last round Shakhtar claimed a narrow win at Desna, with Luis Castro stressing that a comfortable gap between them and the pursuers allows, if necessary, to rotate the squad and give rest to some players. Andriy Pyatov, Ismaily, Mykola Matviienko, Taras Stepanenko, Taison, Junior Moraes, and the injured Viktor Kovalenko did not go to Poltava. In the meantime, Vitao, Artem Bondarenko, and Vladyslav Vakula got onto the preliminary player list.

Opponents

For Vorskla, the season resumed after the winter break in Kyiv: on February 22, the team suffered a 1-2 defeat at the hands of Dynamo. Ruslan Stepanyuk equalized 13 minutes after the hosts’ goal, with the latter eventually snatching 3 points by scoring an injury-time decider. In the standings, the Poltava side are sitting in the penultimate spot so far without a chance to make it past Olimpik (-4) or Lviv (-5).

In November, Vorskla replaced its head coach. Vitalii Kosovskyi is now working with the reserve team, while the first team is headed by Yurii Maksymov, the former coach of Obolon, Kryvbas, and Metalurh Donetsk. Before the winter break, the Poltava team defeated Kolos (1-0) and Karpaty (2-1).

Transfers of the forward Vladyslav Kulach, the Croatian midfielder David Puclin, and the return of Ruslan Stepanyuk from Kazakhstan took place during the winter transfer window. They all appeared in the starting lineup against Dynamo, with the latter player, as we have already mentioned, putting his name on the scoresheet. Another Vorskla striker Edin Sehic will miss the match with the champions due to earning four yellow cards.

Head-to-head record

On Sunday, Shakhtar and Vorskla will meet for the 50th time in the league history: 38 wins belong to the Donetsk side, 2 wins were claimed by the Poltava outfit (both at home), with another 9 encounters ending in a draw. The Miners netted 103 goals and conceded 28.

Previous league meeting

On September 27, Shakhtar claimed a major 4-0 win. In the 32nd minute, Valerii Bondar launched the thrashing with his debut goal for the club after sending Solomon’s assist home. Just before the break, Konoplyanka could well double the score, but Vorskla were rescued by the crossbar, with Yevhen converting a spot-kick early in the second half. Then, Patrick shattered the woodwork (hitting the post) and scored one in the 72nd minute. Moraes sealed the win after sending home a Moraes assist.