Preview

August 18, Lviv, Ukraine, 17:00
Live broadcast on the Futbol 2 channel

Before the match

After 4 rounds, Oleksandriia are topping the table with the maximum points. Shakhtar and Dynamo have 9 points each, with the Kyiv side having one spare game. A week ago, the Miners secured a comeback win at Vorskla after scoring 4 goals after the break. Junior Moraes scored goals in each of the 3 games, with Marlos also improving his scoring record.
 
The champions prepared for the game vs Lviv for a week. Sergii Kryvtsov trains in the general group, so Paulo Fonseca has got a somewhat bigger choice of central defenders now.  Shakhtar will go to Lviv on the matchday’s eve.
 
Opponents
 
Last season, Lviv played in the Second League of Ukraine, replacing Veres in the top flight this summer and being staffed by a number of former players of the Rivne-based club. In July, the Brazilian Gilmar took charge of Lviv. Under his leadership, the team kicked off their league campaign with an away victory over Arsenal-Kyiv (2-0), suffering narrow defeats at the hands of Dynamo, Vorskla and being tied with Olimpik (1-1) in the following rounds: the 3 goals for Lviv were scored by Serhii Voronin, Artur Zapadnia and Volodymyr Adamyuk.
 
After the 4th round, they made some changes in the team. Gilmar left his post due to the licence issues. Yurii Bakalov, who previously met with Shakhtar at the head coach of Arsenal Kyiv and Slavutych Cherkasy, was appointed head coach instead of Gilmar. Currently, he has at his disposal the squad of experienced and young Ukrainian players, as well as 7 Brazilian internationals.
 
Vladyslav Pryimak will miss Saturday's match due to suspension.
 
Head-to-head record
 
The opponents twice met in the 2008/09 season. The games ended in the same score of 2-0 in favour of the hosts.
 
Previous league meeting
 
In November 2008, in Donetsk, Shakhtar took revenge for the defeat in Lviv. After the first clean-sheet half without any chances, the hosts netted an early goal after the break (Gai scored one following Yezerskyi’s delivery), extending the lead a few minutes later (Seleznov provided an assist to Adriano). In the end, Serhii Kovalets’ men launched an attack, but Pyatov showcased his reflexes on two occasions, securing a 2-0 win.