Preview

September 20, Zaporizhia, Slavutych-Arena, 17:00

Match build-up

The Miners have spent nearly a month without any competitive games. They had just a round-1 game, plus Shakhtar and Dynamo met in a Ukrainian Super Cup decider before the international break. The round-2 game vs Rukh that was supposed to take place last weekend has been postponed due to the fact that some players of the Lviv outfit had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Luis Castro had a lot of time to view the U21 players in training and then, upon the return of the internationals, to practise link-up play and tactical details. The team had a weekly training cycle. Only Malyshev, Ismaily and Vakula are not in the general group.

Opponents

Last season, Zorya fought for silver medals to the bitter end, ultimately finishing in the third spot. The club already look forward to the Europa League group stage draw. The Black-and-Whites got off to a poor start in the Ukrainian league though. In the starting round, Viktor Skrypnyk's men suffered a 1-3 defeat at the hands of Desna in Chernihiv, later losing 0-1 to Mariupol in Zaporizhia. They conceded all goals in the second half, with the only goal being scored by the newcomer Denys Favorov.

In the upcoming match against Shakhtar, Dmytro Khomchenovskyi will not be able to benefit his outfit due to self-quarantining after having tested positive for the coronavirus.

Head-to-head record

The rivals have met in the league on 44 occasions: Shakhtar claimed 36 victories, Zorya won six times, two more meetings ended in a draw. The Orange-and-Blacks scored 106 goals, the opponents netted 29 goals.

Previous game

On June 27, Shakhtar played against Zorya after having secured the early title in the previous round vs Oleksandriia. In the first half, Konoplyanka made a couple of attempts – the ball hit the goalkeeper and went off target. After the break, Alan Patrick shattered the crossbar with a cannon shot, with Pyatov making a save after Lednev’s great set-piece effort. In general, most of the Miners’ attacks were stopped by the tight defence, with the ball hitting the defenders, so the game ended with the final scoreline of 0-0.