Shakhtar
Friendly match
0 - 2
Sunday, February 3, 2019 4:00 PM
Cornelia Diamond
Partizan
Nemanja Nikolic (8) Aleksandar Scekic (39)
Preview
On February 3, the Miners will play a friendly vs Partizan Belgrade. The encounter kicks off at 16:00 EET. The live broadcast to be available on shakhtar.com. To view it, log in to the site.
Before the match
Shakhtar’s winter training is in full swing. In January, Paulo Fonseca’s men held four test games in Turkey: vs Hajduk (1-4), vs Qarabag (3-1), vs Hobro (2-1), and vs Lech (3-0). Interestingly, in the recent three games, the top scorer Junior Moraes scored goals, with the newcomer Manor Solomon netting a goal and providing an assist in the encounter with the Poles.
Regarding the important personnel news, it is worth mentioning the return of Fernando to the general group, who missed Shakhtar’s competitive games in November and December due to injury, currently picking up form. Also, in the course of the training camp, the U21 defender Valerii Bondar joined the first team.
The Orange-and-Blacks are facing three friendlies spread over five days, with the first one being against Partizan, Serbia.
Opponents
Partizan has been the most decorated club of the Serbian SuperLiga since its foundation back in 2006 (8 wins). Prior to that, the Black-and-Whites won 19 Yugoslav league titles. The history of the Belgrade-based club also boasts the 1966 European Cup final that saw Partizan being in front, with Real Madrid finally claiming a comeback win though.
The Serbian league is similar to the Ukrainian one, being held in two stages. In the 2017/18 season, Partizan finished in the second spot just below Crvena Zvezda. In the current SuperLiga, Shakhtar's opponents sit in the third spot, 6 points adrift of Radnicki and 15 points behind the current champions.
The Partizan manager is a 47-year-old Zoran Mirkovic. In the first half of the season, the team leaders were the most experienced goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic, the 18-year-old centreback Svetozar Markovic, the attacking midfielder Danilo Pantic, the winger Goran Zakaric, and the scorer Ricardo Gomes (14 goals). Igor Duljaj defended the colours of Partizan and won three domestic league titles before 2004.
Head-to-head record
The clubs locked horns in European competitions twice in a row: in the Europa League group stage in 2009 (4-1 at the Donbass Arena, 0-1 in Belgrade), and in the Champions League in 2010 (1-0 in Donetsk, 3-0 in the capital of Serbia). Jadson managed to put his name on the scoresheet in two different games. The Miners also defeated the Black-and-White twice on the Turkish training camp (2-1 in 2012 and 1-0 in 2014). Taras Stepanenko made his Champions League debut vs Partizan and scored a goal (November 23, 2010).
Shakhtar Vs. Partizan history
Friendly match
Sun 03
•Feb 2019
•16:00
Cornelia Diamond
Referee: Niyazi Tokcan