Derby win
Saturday, March 6, 2021
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Shakhtar faced Olimpik in the UPL Round 17
The Miners approached the Donetsk derby after suffering two defeats in a row, therefore they sought to make amends for their recent failures. Having resorted to a major personnel reshuffling in the cup match, today Luis Castro has fielded the most operational starting lineup: Maycon and Marcos Antonio replaced the suspended Stepanenko and Patrick in midfield, Ismaily appeared at left-back, and Tete operated as a wide striker on the right-hand side.
Narrow lead
It was the Brazilian winger who created the first scoring chance: already in the 2nd minute, Tete struck powerfully from the edge of the box only to see his effort whizz just inches wide of the post. The beginning of the half saw the Miners’ significant advantage, but it was not so easy to overcome the opponents’ compact defence through positional attacks. A blistering attack helped them though: in the 24th minute, Maycon found Dodo down the right wing with a cool diagonal pass, the defender found himself one on one with Halimi and opened the scoring by snapping it straight into the roof of the net - 0-1. Moraes immediately tried to build on the success, but the goalkeeper parried away his tight-angle attempt. Five minutes away from the break, the Olympians also scored one, but after watching the VAR replay they unruled Nkeng's goal.
Late chances
The second half started with Shakhtar attacking: Tete sent his header over the crossbar, and Moraes' faint attempt ended up in the hands of Halimi. Taison threatened the goal well twice: Matviienko was close to finishing off his effort at the far post before Marcos Antonio cannoned the Brazilian's pass high. Olimpik responded with Teixeira's attempt at goal - his effort went the wrong way though. In the 83rd minute, the hosts were left short-handed after Babenko had been sent off, still having a chance to equalize: after being fed by his teammate, Nkeng made a seemingly scoring attempt, with Anatolii Trubin coming to his side’s rescue. A couple of minutes later, the goalkeeper also saved Politylo’s effort. And in stoppage time, the Orange-and-Blacks could have doubled the score but for Halimi who had saved the attempts of Sudakov and Dentinho.
1-0 - Shakhtar defeated Olimpik. Now Luis Castro's men are getting prepared for the continuation of the UEFA Europa League knockout stages. On March 11, the Miners will play Roma away in the Round of 16 first leg. The match kicks off at 22:00.
Olimpik Donetsk 0-1 (0-1) Shakhtar Donetsk
Kyiv, V. Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium, att: 900
Goal: 0-1 Dodo (24’)
Shakhtar: Trubin, Dodo, Vitao, Matviienko, Ismaily, Maycon, Marcos (Dentinho, 72), Marlos (c), Tete (Konoplyanka 90’) Taison (Solomon 80’), Moraes (Sudakov 72’)
Sent off: Babenko (83’ second booking)
Further details and photos are available in the match centre.