Preview

June 6, Kyiv, NSC Olimpiyskiy, 17:00

Before the match

This meeting was supposed to take place in Chernihiv, but by agreement between the clubs it was moved to Kyiv, where Shakhtar will be the nominal hosts. Just like in the previous round vs Dynamo, the Orange-and-Blacks will host their opponents at the NSC Olimpiyskiy field. This is a reminder that all games are held behind closed doors.

Luis Castro’s men are 16 points clear of 3 clubs at once: Zorya, Desna, and Dynamo. Shakhtar extended their lead in the previous round, with the Miners claiming a major win at Dynamo through the goals by Marlos and Marcos Antonio. After that game, the players got one day off, and on Tuesday the team started preparing for the meeting with Desna. The champions have no suspended players. Maksym Malyshev, Valerii Bondar, Maycon and Artem Bondarenko are not in the general group.

Opponents

Desna hold their second Premier League campaign, already competing for medals. Last season, Oleksandr Ryabokon’s men claimed the 8th spot (41 points in 32 rounds), having significantly surpassed that result this time (46 points in 24 games).

After the winter break, the Chernihiv side lost to Shakhtar, later producing an unbeaten run of 4 games: victories over Mariupol, Olimpik, Zorya (with a total goal difference of 7–1) and a draw vs Dynamo. They also won in the first post-quarantine round - on May 30, they defeated Kolos at the Obolon Arena. In that match, the captain Denys Favorov brought his team in front, then the goalkeeper Yevhen Past parried away a spot-kick, with the Shakhtar acdemy graduate Yehor Kartushov doubling Desna’s advantage in the end, making it 2-0.

Head-to-head record

Shakhtar won all 4 league games against Desna with an aggregate score of 5-0.

Previous league meeting

On February 23, the Orange-and-Blacks snatched a late injury-time win. For 94 minutes, the scoreboard at the OSK Metalist showed 0-0, until the Marlos-Moraes-Taison-Marlos move ended in the latter’s volley right home.