Preview

October 30, Kyiv Oblast, Livyi Bereh stadium, 15:00

Match build-up

Shakhtar continue their cup journey, which began with a confident victory in the Round of 16 against Veres (3-0). The Miners will play the second match of the tournament under the leadership of new head coach Marino Pusic. The manager's debut took place last Wednesday in the Champions League match against Barcelona, and now the Bosnian is going to get acquainted with domestic Ukrainian competitions.

The Orange-and-Blacks were preparing for the game against Viktoriia at the Sviatoshyn sports complex near Kyiv. Football players note the excellent atmosphere in the team and emotional uplift. As for the personnel situation, Stav Lemkin and Ivan Petriak, who are already training on the field, continue to recover from injuries.

Opponents

Viktoriia appeared on the football map of Ukraine in 2015 in Mykolaivka, Sumy Oblast. After playing at the amateur level and two years in the Second League, they spend the 2023/24 season in the First League representing Sumy. Anatolii Bezsmertnyi’s side became one of the discoveries at the start of the championship as they are in second spot in their group after 14 rounds and have a good chance to compete for the class increase.

In the Ukrainian Cup, Viktoriia started from the Round of 128, where they defeated the second-league Druzhba (2-1), and in the following rounds they left the leaders of the First League Inhulets (1-0) and representatives of the Ukrainian Premier League behind: win over LNZ in the Round of 32 (1-0), victory against Minaj in the Round of 16 (1-0). The Sumy team are best known, first of all, for a reliable play in defence (they conceded only 13 goals in 18 matches of the season, scoring 21). The most prolific players are Vadym Shavrin and Bohdan Myshenko (4 goals each).

Match background

Shakhtar and Viktoriia will meet for the first time in their history. The game will be officiated by the judging panel headed by Oleksii Derevinskyi.