Preview

March 1, Lviv, Arena Lviv, 18:00
Live stream will be available on UPL.TV

Match build-up

In the central match of the round, Shakhtar will host one of their direct competitors in the fight for gold medals: currently, the Pitmen have 36 points (goal difference: 42–15) and are in the third spot in the league – Marino Pusic’s team are 5 points away from Oleksandriia, although the Miners still have a game in hand.

The Orange-and-Blacks started the second part of the UPL season a week ago with a victory over Livyi Bereh (1-0). Marian Shved scored the deciding goal. That match was also interesting for the fact that one of the club’s two winter newcomers, Brazilian forward Kaua Elias, made his debut for Shakhtar. Ukrainian midfielders Heorhii Sudakov and Artem Bondarenko remain the top goalscorers of the team in the Premier League (each has 8 goals and 2 assists).

This week, the Miners were preparing for the game in Lviv, where the team will be based for almost a month, because the current champions still have a nominal home game against Kryvbas at the Arena Lviv and an away meeting with local Karpaty in March. Earlier, Marino Pusic’s players held an intense training session, where they paid special attention to working on tactics, and on Friday, the day before the meeting with Oleksandriia, the Orange-and-Blacks had a pre-game session.

Opponents

Oleksandriia intervened in the title race of two giants this season: Ruslan Rotan’s players have gained 41 points (goal difference: 28–13) after 18 rounds and are currently second in the standings. The team’s top goalscorer in the championship is forward Oleksandr Filippov (8 goals).

Oleksandriia spent the winter pre-season in Turkey, where they played 11 friendly matches: 5 wins, 2 draws, 4 losses. During the transfer window, the club strengthened several positions: central defender Anton Bol, French left defender Theo Ndiсka, midfielder Volodymyr Shepeliev and Albanian winger Tedi Cara joined the team. The latter two have already made their debut for the Yellow-Greens, when Oleksandriia claimed a comeback victory over Zorya (2-1) in the opening match of the second part of the season thanks to Filippov’s brace.

Match background

Shakhtar and Oleksandriia played 31 matches in the Ukrainian League: the Miners won 21 times, 6 draws, Oleksandriia were stronger in 4 matches. Total goal difference: 56–31 in favour of the Orange-and-Blacks.

Previous meeting

On August 24, 2024, the teams played the game of the 4th round of the UPL in Oleksandriia. The Miners quickly took the lead after an own goal by Shabanov and Kryskiv’s goal, but before the break, the host team equalised the score thanks to accurate shots by Filippov and Kaliuzhnyi. At the beginning of the second half, Filippov scored two more times, to which the Pitmen responded only with Pedrinho’s goal and lost minimally in the end – 3-4.

The Shakhtar vs Oleksandriia match will be officiated by the judging panel headed by Mykola Balakin. Assistants: Oleksandr Berkut and Dmytro Zaporozhenko. Denys Shurman will be the VAR referee.