Victorious debut

In his first competitive game, Roberto De Zerbi used a 1-4-2-3-1 formation and fielded all three of this summer’s newcomers: Marlon appeared at the back together with Matviienko, Dodo and Korniienko; Stepanenko and Maycon operated in the holding area, and a trio of attacking midfielders were Pedrinho, Alan Patrick and Manor Solomon, while Traore played as a centre-forward.

Early goal

The Miners immediately started the meeting with creating chances - already in the first minute Halchuk rescued his side from a dangerous shot by Solomon and the subsequent finish by Korniienko. Shortly after that, Matviienko found Dodo in the penalty area with a great pass, the Brazilian beat the goalkeeper, but missed the target from a tight angle. However, an early goal did happen: in the 12th minute Solomon sent in a cross, and Lassina Traore scored from close range the Miners’ first goal this season and his debut goal for Shakhtar! And literally right then, the visitors were close to equalizing when Sitalo took advantage of the Donetsk team's defensive mistake, but Trubin rescued the team in that situation. Next came a number of long-range attempts: Maycon’s effort hit Polehenko, Dodo's attempt went wide, and Pedrinho’s long-ranger missed the crosspiece by mere inches. Midway through the first half, the Petrivske outfit seemed to manage to partly challenge the attacking flare of the hosts only to see the second ball hit the back of their net. Having played one-two with Stepanenko, Alan Patrick burst into the penalty area and volleyed the captain's high delivery right home. 2-0 – the Miners got a comfortable advantage before the break.

Necessary outcome

The second half also saw Solomon trying to head it home: the Israelite bent it towards the far corner, missing the target just by inches. The Miners continued to siege the opponents’ goal, but failed to finish their moves with some great shots. Only in the 65th minute, the birthday boy Manor Solomon rounded off a quite long attack by shattering a goalpost. A couple of minutes later, Alan Patrick scored one, although Traore was flagged offside. In the meantime, De Zerbi sent the fresh Sudakov and Tete into the battle - the Brazilian could immediately get on the end of Stepanenko's delivery, but the opposing defender got on the ball quicker. Persistently, but in vain did Solomon try to excel that evening, with another shot of his being spectacularly parried away by leaping Halchuk. That said, Inhulets took full advantage of their opportunity and pulled one back in the 81st minute: Micheal Gopey completed his teammates’ build-up play with a precision shot. However, the Orange-and-Blacks did not allow their opponents to achieve more and confidently secured the desired result.

2-1 - Roberto De Zerbi starts his Shakhtar tenure with a victory! The Miners will play their next match away vs Lviv on July 30.

Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 (2-0) Inhulets Petrove

Kyiv, NSC Olimpiyskiy, att: 9,129

Goals: 1-0 Traore (12’), 2-0 Patrick (34’), 2-1 Gopey (81’)

Shakhtar: Trubin, Dodo, Marlon, Matviienko, Korniienko (Vitao, 82’), Maycon, Stepanenko (c), Pedrinho (Tete, 70’), Patrick (Sudakov, 70’), Solomon (Marcos, 88’), Traore