Preview

September 2, Mynai, Mynai, 13:00

Match build-up

Shakhtar approach the autumn part of the season as the championship leaders: Patrick van Leeuwen's men secured 3 wins and tied 2 times after 5 matches played, topping the Premier League table with 11 points (goal difference: 10-6). The Miners beat Kolos away (2-0) in the previous round, scoring twice before the break. In Kovalivka, Yehor Nazaryn dropped his debut goal for the club and Oleksii Kashchuk made a goal involvement in the second match in a row.

This week, the Orange-and-Blacks spent a training session at the Sviatoshyn base and found out their opponents in the Champions League group stage a day before. It should be noted that defender Giorgi Gocholeishvili and midfielder Artem Bondarenko will miss the next game due to disqualifications.

Opponents

Minaj have no wins for now at the beginning of the season: after gaining 2 points in 5 rounds (goal difference: 3–10), the Transcarpathians are in the penultimate 15th spot in the UPL. Volodymyr Sharan's team started the championship with crushing defeats against Dynamo (1-4) and LNZ (0-3), then took points from Dnipro-1 (1-1), narrowly losing to Metalist (0-1) and almost defeating Zorya (1-1) in the last round with a visible play advantage and significantly more scoring opportunities than the opponents.

Match background

Shakhtar and Minaj played 5 matches in the UPL: the Miners won 4 times (5-1, 4-0, 4-1, 1-0), with another meeting ending in draw (1-1). Total goal difference: 15-3 in favour of the Orange-and-Blacks.

Previous meeting

On May 3, 2023, Shakhtar and Minaj met on Transcarpathians’ field. The fate of the match was decided by the only goal scored in the 12th minute – Lassina Traore did it after Marian Shved’s pass. Before the break and in the second half, both teams had enough chances to score, but the result remained unchanged. 1-0 – victory of the Miners.

Minaj vs Shakhtar match will be officiated by the judging panel headed by Dmytro Bondarenko. Assistants: Oleksandr Pavlinov and Vitalii Sukhin.