Preview

August 14, Kyiv Oblast, Livyi Bereh stadium, 17:00
Live stream – MEGOGO, Kyivstar TV, Vodafone TV, Setanta Sports, Volia TV, Sweet.tv, and OmegaTV.

Match build-up

Shakhtar started their league campaign with a victory over Metalist 1925 (2-1), drawing with Veres in the second round (1-1). An interesting fact that the first goals of the Miners in both matches were scored by central defender Mykola Matviienko. Head coach of the Pitmen Patrick van Leeuwen actively integrates young footballers and newcomers of the club into the squad: Dmytro Riznyk, Oleksii Kashchuk, Newerton, Pedrinho, Denil Castillo made their debuts for the main team in both matches. Also, the Orange-and-Blacks had time to play a charity match against Tottenham in London in support of the people of Ukraine during the break between UPL rounds.

Artem Bondarenko, Yaroslav Rakitskyi, Viktor Korniienko will not help Shakhtar in the meeting with the Oleksandriia side due to disqualification. Yehor Nazaryna returns to the line-up.

Opponents

Oleksandriia started the championship with two minimal victories, defeating Kryvbas (1-0) and Metalist 1925 (1-0) at home. Both goals were scored by young winger Artem Shulianskyi. This summer, the club's transfer campaign is based on signing of free agents, most of whom are players of Ruslan Rotan's first team at the start of the season, for example, defenders Yevhen Smyrnyi and Serhii Lohinov, midfielders Rodion Plaksa and Oleksandr Bieliaiev.

Match background

Shakhtar and Oleksandriia played 28 matches in the Ukrainian League: the Miners won 19 times, 6 matches ended in a draw, the Oleksandriia outfit proved stronger in 3 meetings. Total goal difference: 52-26 in favour of the Orange-and-Blacks.

Previous meeting

On May 7, 2023, Shakhtar and Oleksandriia met at the CSC Nika. The game was even and intense. The hosts took the first lead in the 9th minute when Mykola Mykhailenko scored. During most of the match, the Miners were looking for ways to the opponents’ goal, creating several dangerous chances and they managed to come back only in the 75th minute: Kevin Kelsy did a good job on finishing. The Pitmen were closer to victory in the remaining time, but the result remained draw – 1-1.

Shakhtar vs Oleksandriia match will be officiated by the judging panel headed by Denys Shurman. Assistants: Volodymyr Vysotskyi and Oleksandr Korniiko. VAR system will be used during the game (Oleksii Derevinskyi will be the VAR referee).