Lviv vs Shakhtar: match report

The Miners held this away match in Kharkiv due to the unavailability of Lviv’s home field. Luis Castro fielded almost the same starting lineup that began the UEFA Europa League match against Roma on Thursday, with the only difference being the appearance of Marlos in midfield instead of Alan Patrick.

Maximally open football

From the off, the teams focussed on attacking play and created several great chances already in the opening stages. Tete was a bit late to finish off a Marlos pass, Moraes chested the ball and sent it goalwards himself - Kostyk tried to parry it away, Junior noticed the goalkeeper's mistake immediately, but headed his point-blank range attempt over the crossbar. Lviv responded to this with Nych getting one-on-one with the keeper, but Trubin won the duel. After a short respite, the Donetsk side raised the pace again: Marlos tricked two opponents and hit the outside of the net, then he brought Tete through on target just to see the Brazilian being marked by Yakymets. And in the 24th minute, Alvaro unexpectedly got on the end of Shyna's cross for the Citizens to open the score. However, as soon as in the 30th minute, the scores got even again: Manor Solomon spectacularly bent it inside the far goalpost, making it 1-1. Then Moraes checked the goalkeeper’s reflexes with his long-range attempt, with the Shakhtar forward scoring a goal a minute later and the referee unruling it due to a controversial offside position. And yet the visitors could have gone for the break with an advantage when Matviienko crossed it to Tete and the latter volleyed it goalwards, but Brickner caught the ball at the very last moment.

Mostly attacks

The second half of the match turned out to be no less spectacular and even more productive. Already in the 48th minute, the nominal hosts again took the lead: Nych made it past a defender in the penalty area and outplayed Trubin. Again, it didn't take the Miners a long time to level the score - it was Solomon who cut inside and hit the near corner, making it 2-2. Manor did not even think of slowing down, producing a perfect pass to Marlos in the centre of the penalty area just two minutes later (the Ukrainian’s attempt went high), and then the Israeli himself fired a long-ranger - Kostyk came to his side’s rescue. Shakhtar increased the pressure every minute, but eventually faced a counterattack: Shyna unexpectedly raced from behind Matviienko and was brought down by Trubin which resulted in a penalty. The Brazilian outplayed the goalkeeper by sending it right into the centre of the net. In the remaining minutes, the visitors had multiple chances to equalize, but long-range attempts by Maycon and Konoplyanka just whizzed off the post. In stoppage time, Solomon could score a hat-trick, but his effort also went just inches off the target, while Alan Patrick's attempt was blocked by a defender. 2-3 - Shakhtar suffered a defeat at the hands of Lviv.

Now, the league will see a fortnight’s international break. The Miners will play their next match vs Vorskla in Poltava on April 4th.

Lviv 3-2 (1-1) Shakhtar Donetsk

Kharkiv, OSK Metalist, att: 1,682

Goals: 1-0 Alvaro (24’), 1-1 Solomon (30’), 2-1 Nych (48’), 2-2 Solomon (56’), 3-2 Shyna (73’ pen.)

Shakhtar: Trubin, Dodo, Kryvtsov (c), Vitao (Konoplyanka 77’), Matviienko, Maycon, Marcos (Patrick 46’), Marlos, Tete (Dentinho 71’), Solomon, Moraes