Preview

April 25, Oleksandriia, Nika, 17:00

Match build-up

In this round, Dynamo may well secure the league title early if they beat Inhulets in a parallel match. Meanwhile, Shakhtar need to defeat Oleksandriia for their current position not to be questioned. Zorya are seven points adrift of the Miners but have a game in hand, so Shakhtar’s additional loss of points could result in tighter competition for the second spot.

“Although we’ve got no tournament objectives, we shouldn’t forget about Zorya who may also compete. We can’t give them even the slimmest chance of doing so,” Shakhtar captain Andriy Pyatov stressed in his interview. “I suppose Oleksandriia have also got no objectives as it’s gonna be really hard for them to reach the top four. This will only make the opponents feel more relaxed especially since the games in Oleksandriia are always difficult. The team give fight, never surrender and fight to the bitter end. It will be a tough game. We need to display the kind of football we showcased a year ago and earlier.”

Shakhtar arrived in Oleksandriia with 20 players on the squad list. It lacks Matviienko and Maycon who will miss the game due to suspension, along with Junior Moraes who got seriously injured in training. Also, Maksym Malyshev, Yevhen Konoplyanka and Ismaily still recover.

If you want to support the Miners in the stadium stands, you can purchase a ticket to the away enclosure. Its price is UAH 40.

Opponents

Oleksandriia have no suspended players, but they experience certain mental issues after a losing streak. In the past four rounds, the team suffered four defeats: vs Inhulets (0-1), Dynamo (1-2), Desna (1-4) and Lviv (1-3). In the league table, the Oleksandriia outfit have the eighth position and 26 points.

This week, Volodymyr Sharan's men had a tense Ukrainian Cup semi-final against Zorya. Regular time ended with a score of 1-1 (Valerii Bondarenko on loan from Shakhtar converted a spot-kick late in the game), with no goals scored in extra time. Everything was decided in a penalty shootout with Dubra sending it high and with Shevchenko saving Stetskov's attempt.

Head-to-head record

In 23 league matches, Shakhtar proved stronger 18 times, Oleksandriia won once, with four more games ending in a draw. The Miners scored 45 goals and conceded 18. The most frequent outcome is a 2-1 win.

Previous meeting

Oleksandriia are among the teams who managed to take points from Shakhtar this season. In November, Luis Castro's men were playing with just ten men for about an hour at Olimpiyskiy (Kateryna Monzul sent off Junior Moraes after watching the video replay). Before the break, the rivals exchanged dangerous attempts by Luchkevych, Stepanenko and Solomon. Early in the second half, Dodo scored a header but the visitors bounced back very quickly as Banada converted his teammates’ efforts into a goal.