Preview

August 4, Kharkiv, OSK Metalist, 19:30
Live broadcast on Futbol 1 channel

Before the match

On Wednesday, Shakhtar began defending the title away in Oleksandriia. The meeting with the bronze medalists turned out to be challenging: after the first half, the Miners were behind, but at half time they changed the midfielders’ roles, which resulted in three goals scored and the outcome of 3-1.

For Luis Castro and his coaching staff, this is the first victory at the helm of the team. The Orange-and-Blacks extended their unbeaten UPL run to 30 matches (thy have enjoyed it since August 2018). We want to point out that in the season’s two competitive games, the manager relied on the same starting lineup.

Now, the champions will hold the season’s first home game in Kharkiv. The tickets are on sale. The main feature of the Sunday meeting will be Shakhtar’s new kit. On the matchday’s eve, they will hold the kit presentation as part of an open training session for fans at the OSK Metalist (at 17:00 on August 3, free admission). We are delighted to invite everyone to the stadium!

Shakhtar claimed 8 consecutive UPL victories over Kapraty, notching up 26 goals. Last season, the Orange-and-Blacks thrashed the Lviv side twice (6-1 and 5-0). In general, in the Championship history, the Miners demolished Karpaty on 16 occasions.

Opponents

Karpaty were close to relegation to a lower league: after claiming the 10th spot last season, they were forced to defend their standing in the face-to-face games vs Volyn, with the things turning out well for the Lviv outfit.

The team were prepared for the new season campaign by Oleksandr Chyzhevskyi, who spent most of his playing career with the green-and-white team. Interestingly, in the five previous meetings with Shakhtar, Karpaty were represented by different managers: Oleh Dulub, Serhii Zaitsev, Oleh Boichyshyn, Jose Morais and Fabri Gonzalez.

During the summer break, Lviv carried out big scouting work. More than 10 football players left the club, with the newcomers including the goalkeeper Oleh Kudryk loaned out by Shakhtar, the former Shakhtar U21 midfielder Volodymyr Yakymets, the vastly experienced defender Oleksandr Kucher and a number of other Ukrainian and foreign players.

In the 1st round, Karpaty hosted Dynamo Kyiv and lost it 0-2 (through Kovtun's own goal and Besedin's late spot-kick in the first half).

Head-to-head record

The rivals had 52 meetings in the Championship: 35 Shakhtar wins, 9 Karpaty wins, and 8 draws at the goal difference of 112–36. The Miners claimed 22 home wins and 4 draws in 26 home games (67–10).

Recent league meeting

On March 10, in Kharkiv, the Orange-and-Blacks opened the scoring early: in the 6th minute, Kovalenko took advantage of Ismaily’s pass to the far post, with Matviienko scoring later after a similar assist by Stepanenko. Even before the break, Maycon salted the game away with his quality free-kick, with the champions just strengthening their superiority in the second half: Kovalenko scored twice and Taison converted a set-piece attempt, making it 5-0.