Shakhtar 2-0 Cracovia

January 22, 2017. La Manga. Spain. La Manga Club. Att:100. +13 C.

Shakhtar Donetsk, Ukraine 2-0 (0-0) MKS Cracovia Krakow, Poland

Goals: 1-0 Zubkov (55), 2-0 Dentinho (89)

Shakhtar: Kanibolotskyi (Pyatov, 46), Srna (c) (Kobin, 46), Kryvtsov (Kucher, 46), Rakits’kyy (Ordets, 46), Azevedo (Ismaily, 46), Stepanenko (Tankovskyi, 46), Malyshev (Fred, 46), Marlos (Zubkov, 46; Boriachuk, 82), Alan Patrick (Dentinho, 46), Taison (Bernard, 46), Ferreyra (Blanco Leschuk, 46)

Unused subs: Shevchenko, Kudryk, Matviienko, Arabidze, Budkivskyi

Head coach: Paulo Fonseca

Cracovia: Sandomierski, Deleu (Diego, 61), Malarczyk (Polczak, 46), Wołąkiewicz (Steblecki, 84), Brzyski (Vestenický, 71), Čovilo (Cetnarski, 46), Dąbrowski (Adamczyk, 72), Wójcicki (Litauski, 84), Michalik (Szczepaniak, 46), Budziński (c) (Dimun, 68), Piątek (Jendrišek, 46)

Unused sub: Dobroliński

Head coach: Jacek Zieliński 

Referee: Alfonso Aguilar

Before the match

In the opening friendly in 2017, Cracovia (POL) were Shakhtar’s opponents in La Manga. We want to mention the appearance of Marcio Azevedo in the starting XI, who missed the first part of the season due to injury, along with Alan Patrick, who returned after his loan spell.

First half

The meeting kicked off at a moderate pace. The first danger came in the 10th minute: Facundo Ferreyra shot on target only to see a defender block it. The Poles responded with Piatek finding himself one-on-one with Anton Kanibolotskyi, who was faster on the ball to make a great save. Later, the Pitmen’s advantage got more evident. Marlos was a most dynamic player in those minutes. He made two attempts on goal after his solo runs, but was not successful. Marcio Azevedo had a great chance on 27 minutes. Shakhtar left-back produced a powerful shot from outside the box only to see the ball go just over the bar. Towards the end of the first half, the teams exchanged threatening attacking moves. On the earlier occasion Anton Kanibolotskyi came to the team’s rescue to deny a close-range shot. On the second occasion, Facundo Ferreyra shattered the post after trying to lob it past the keeper a minute away from half-time.

Second half

After the break, Paulo Fonseca fielded different 11 players, including Oleksandr Zubkov and the recent signing Gustavo Blanco Leschuk who has made his debut today. Incidentally, the Ukrainian was the most prominent figure early in the second half. Initially, his long-range effort whizzed just inches wide. While on 55 minutes, Bernard put Zubkov through on target, with Oleksandr brilliantly firing it past the lone keeper to make it 1-0. Blanco Leschuk also had a chance to get himself on the scoresheet. He got on the end of an Ismaily cross, with the defenders preventing him from placing his shot well. In the closing stages, Andrii Boriachuk came on for Oleksandr Zubkov. On 89 minutes, the former earned a corner, with the Orange-and-Blacks sealing the win: Vasyl Kobin played a set piece finding Dentinho just in the right place at the right time, with the latter heading it just home to claim a 2-0 win.

Shakhtar are flying back to Kyiv today. On January 25, they will leave for the second training camp to be held in Portugal.