U21. Karpaty vs Shakhtar: match report

Karpaty U21 (Lviv) 1-1 (1-0) Shakhtar U21 (Donetsk)

Goals: 1-0 Savoshko (21, pen.), 1-1 Adamenko

Karpaty: Mozil, Oliynyk, Senitsa (c) (Vizdrik, 46), Markovich, Busko, Verbnyi, Rudyka (Klets, 46), Savoshko, Poliuhanych, Bohach (Kadimian, 57), Salamakha (Gabriel, 46)

Unused subs: Danyliv, Lebedenko, Tolochko

Head coach: Oleksandr Chyzhevskyi

Shakhtar: Grytsenko, Kiryukhantsev, Kacharaba, Bezuhlyi, Mihunov, Zinkevych, Hlushchuk, Pikhalionok (c), Arendaruk (Korobenko, 72), Arabidze, Adamenko

Unused subs: Yefanov, Hrachev, Sahutkin, Hlahola, Ihnatenko, Yalovenko

Head coach: Valeriy Kryventsov

Referee: Ivan Bondar (Kyiv)

Booked: Poliuhanych (6), Savoshko (49), Arabidze (51), Klets (52), Hlushchuk (67), Verbnyi (82), Busko (82), Markovich (90)

Referee: Ihor Paskhal (Kherson)

Before the match

Shakhtar came to Lviv as the leader of the league. In comparison with the previous game, Valeriy Kryventsov somewhat changed the starting XI, fielding Yevhen Grytsenko, Oleksiy Zinkevych, Yurii Hlushchuk, and Denys Arendaruk. The team lacked injured Ilia Ichuaidze and Artur Avahimian, who came down with cold.

Shakhtar was dominating in the starting minutes, with a higher ball possession and creating tension at Karpaty' goal. As early as in the 4th minute, the home team's keeper parried the ball from under the crossbar after a heavy free-kick shot by Giorgi Arabidze. A corner could have led to a goal, but a series of shots by the Orange-and-Blacks were deflected by the defenders. The Lviv team had only one attack, but it turned out to be enough for them to succeed. On the 21th minute, after a high cross into the penalty area the ball hit the hand of a Shakhtar defender, and the referee awarded a penalty, which was scored by Volodymyr Savoshko. The Pitmen tried to equalize before half-time, but Oleh Mozyl who appeared to have found his game, prevented them from doing so: the Galicians' goalkeeper parried two dangerous attempts by Arabidze from afar and a shot by Pikhalionok under the crossbar.

Shakhtar had besieged the opponents' penalty box throughout the entire second half, creating various attacks with flanking passes, fast combinations, long shots and numerous set-plays. What they lacked was a precise shot. The Lviv team had thrown all their forces into defence, and when they could not handle the high speed of the opponents, they disrupted the pace by constant fouls. Valeriy Kryventsov's squad managed to cancel out only on 78 minutes. After a foul on Giorgi Arabidze on the left flank, he made a soft cross to the goal mouth, where Mykyta Adamenko headed the ball into the net - 1-1. Right after that Mykyta Bezuhlyi had a similar moment, but his shot went wide over the bar. Both, the Orange-and-Blacks and the Lviv team, could have snatched a win in the final minutes: Karpaty's defender blocked an attempt by Arabidze, and a shot by the home team was saved by the Pitmen's goalkeeper Yevhen Grytsenko.

A draw in Shakhtar v Karpaty game - 1-1. In the next match, the Donetsk U21 team will take on Dnipro on August 20.

– We are upset that we did not get the result that we deserved today. We started off very strong, and created three scoring chances in the starting minutes, and we should have scored. Then, the opponents were awarded a penalty in their first attack and we found ourselves in a difficult situation when we needed to cancel out their lead. We immediately picked up the pace, and again had great opportunities, but did not score. Throughout the second half, the team were looking for different ways to approach the opponents' goal: using the flanks and centre, short pass combinations, we had plenty of corners. On the whole, we created enough chances to not only win this game, but win big. I believe that the final score (1-1) does not reflect what had happened on the field. But we did thanked the guys for their dedication today.