Preview

Shakhtar's opponents are APOEL, Cyprus. The meeting kicks off at 18:30 Kyiv time (EET) and will be webcast live for the registered users of shakhtar.com.

Before the match
 
Luis Castro’s men are finishing the summer training camp. After test games vs Proleter and Wolfsberger, the Shakhtar coaching staff conducted a theory session including an analysis of the team’s actions, along with two training sessions on July 10. Dentinho returned to the general group - he had not yet participated in any test games in course of the current pre-season training.
 
Opponents
 
APOEL of Nicosia is Cyprus's most decorated club. They bost 28 league titles and the current run of seven sets of domestic gold medals in a row. They finished last season being 10 points clear of AEK Athens. For several years now, the Blue-Yellows have suffered four defeats in the competition each league season.
 
In July, the Portuguese team captain Nuno Morais retired after having played for APOEL since 2007 and becoming a record holder for the number of appearances. He was the key link in the formation of the Italian coach Paolo Tramezzani and, despite the central midfielder role, he scored 15 goals last season. None of the forwards hardly approached that goal-scoring figure.
 
In the summer, APOEL updated their squad again by signing up a few free agents and concluding a number of loan deals. For example, the Serbian midfielder Uros Matic moved to join the team for one season from Copenhagen who had played Shakhtar recently. In a couple of weeks’ time, the Cypriots will lock horns with the winners of the Slovan vs Sutjeska clash.