Preview

April 11, Cherkasy, Cherkasy Arena, 15:30
The live broadcast will be available on UPL.TV

Match build-up

Shakhtar continue to play on a tight schedule and will hold their fourth match in the last 2 weeks. So far, this part has been quite successful for the Miners: they qualified for the Ukrainian Cup semi-finals, beating Oleksandriia (1-0), and defeated Obolon (2-0) and Veres (3-0) in the Ukrainian Premier League. Currently, Marino Pusic's side have 47 points with the best goal difference (51-16) and continue to chase their rivals in the title race. It should be noted that the Pitmen’s top scorer netted in the last match against the Rivne-based outfit, currently having 11 goals in this UPL season. The Pitmen’s unbeaten home streak is also ongoing, and, including the cup match, it now stands at 423 minutes.

In Cherkasy, the Orange-and-Blacks will be without one of the key contributors to this streak, their main goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk, who has suffered a muscle injury. It should be noted that he played all 32 of Shakhtar’s matches without substitutions from the very beginning of the season. Defender Yukhym Konoplia continues to recover too. All other players of the team are preparing for the match.

Opponents

LNZ are spending their second season in the UPL and have declared their intention to fight for high positions. However, the Cherkasy-based side are unlikely to succeed in the current championship: they have 25 points after 23 rounds (goal difference: 22-31), sitting in 10th place in the standings. The gap to the European zone is 10 points, while the gap to the relegation zone is 4. In the second half of the season, Roman Hryhorchuk's lads (the renowned Ukrainian coach took charge of the team in the winter) secured 2 wins and suffered 4 defeats: they narrowly lost to Polissia (0-1) and Chornomorets (0-1) in the last 2 rounds. The most prolific player of LNZ in the current UPL campaign is Kosovo midfielder Muharrem Jashari (5 goals and 5 assists). Dmytro Topalov, a former player of the Pitmen and currently a midfielder for the Cherkasy team, will miss the match against Shakhtar due to suspension.

Match background

Shakhtar and LNZ played 3 matches in the UPL: 3 wins, 0 draws and 0 losses for the Miners. Total goal difference: 11-1 in favour of the Orange-and-Blacks.

Previous meeting

On October 6, 2024, the teams locked horns in the first UPL stage at the Lviv Arena. The match was a truly special event for the Pitmen’s midfielder Heorhii Sudakov, who scored 4 goals and provided an assist for Oleksandr Zubkov. The LNZ players responded only with a goal from Shota Nonikashvili from the penalty spot. 5-0 – a convincing win of Marino Pusic’s side.

The LNZ vs Shakhtar match will be officiated by the judging panel headed by Dmytro Panchyshyn. Assistants – Volodymyr Dumenko and Yaroslav Povazhnyi. VAR – Roman Blavatskyi.