Preview

March 4, Lviv, Ukraine, 19:30
Live broadcast on the 2+2 TV channel
 
Before the match
 
Paulo Fonseca’s men excellently started the second part of the season, having defeated Chornomorets and Zirka with the same score of 5-0. The gap between them and Dynamo increased to 6 points. The Donetsk team will finish the first stage of the league season with the away game vs Karpaty, with retaining the lead being their key objective.
 
Shakhtar have enjoyed a good run of form against the Green-and-Whites in the Premier League since the 2015/16 season: 5 straight wins with the aggregate difference of 12-4. In the last two meetings, Facundo Ferreyra netted 2 winners (2-1, 2-0).
 
Due to suspension, the upcoming meeting in Lviv will be missed by Yaroslav Rakits’kyy, David Khocholava, Fred and Taison. At the same time, we want to note that a striker Olarenwaju Kayode has been loaned out to Shakhtar recently and put on the squad list for the Premier League fixtures. The Nigerian will play for Shakhtar under the number 88.
 
Opponents
 
Karpaty are sitting in the 9th spot in the standings with 19 points. However, the Lviv side’s situation may worsen due to the recent decisions by the СDC FFU on getting 3 and 6 points off the club, with the latter going down to the bottom spot.
 
Performance wise, the Green-and-Whites have not claimed any wins since October 21 (1-0 over Vorskla) until the February replay of the round 18 game vs Olimpik (2-1). After the winter break, they also suffered a home defeat at the hands of Zorya (0-2) and had to be satisfied with a stalemate in Odesa vs Chornomorets (0-0).
 
We want to remind you that Karpaty started the season with the Spaniard Sergio Navarro at the helm, then the team was led by Serhii Zaitsev, with Oleh Boichyshyn managing the team at the moment.
 
Head-to-head record
 
The opponents had 49 meetings: 32 wins for Shakhtar, 9 for Karpaty, and 8 draws. The goal difference is 98-35.
 
The Miners proved stronger on 11 occasions. The Green-and-Whites succeeded at home on all 9 occasions, also having four draws. The goal difference is 36-25 in favour of the Donetsk side.
 
Previous league meeting
 
On October 1 in Kharkiv, Shakhtar opened the scoring in the 7th minute: Ferreyra finished off a cross by Butko. The champions continued to dominate possession, with the goal being threatened by Taison, Marlos and Fred, but the numbers on the scoreboard changed only in the 65th minute, when Ismaily's dangerous shot ended with Fedetsky's own goal – 2-0. The visitors had no chance of equalising before the final whistle, rather Patrick, Marlos and Taison could just give the score a more lopsided look.