On Monday, February 26, the match of the 18th round of the Ukrainian Premier League took place between FC Oleksandriya and Shakhtar Donetsk. For the hosts, this was the first official match in 2024, and the Pitmen had already played two matches of the 1/16 finals of the Europa League and completed their participation in this tournament.
During the winter break, both teams were active in the transfer market. Colombian defender Jose Hernandez, as well as two midfield players Artur Mykytyshyn and Ivan Matyushenko, left Alexandria. Another football player from Colombia, Madison Julio, Portuguese defender Miguel Campos, Brazilian striker De, as well as Ukrainian Denis Kostyshin, who returned from the USA, joined the ranks of the club. Shakhtar strengthened themselves in the winter with Brazilian midfielders Kevin and Marlon Gomez, as well as Georgian defender Luka Latsabidze. Several players left the team and will play for other teams on loan: Ocheretko, Topalov, Buleza, Kozik, Castillo. Today, the head coaches released one newcomer into the starting lineups: Ruslan Rotan entrusted Campos with a place in the center of defense, and Marino Pusic put Kevin on the left flank of the attack.
The start of the match was delayed by more than an hour and a half. The reason was an air raid warning. In the opening period, Shakhtar players actively put pressure on the hosts’ defense, but it held out. Around the 15th minute the game leveled off. Oleksandriya maintained the level of intensity offered by the Pitmen. However, it cannot be said that the pace of Shakhtar players’ actions was very high. Overall, Shakhtar’s game lacked integrity. There were a lot of inaccurate passes and lost balls. One of the reasons for this is the active pressing performed by the Oleksandriya players, due to which the guests had problems building attacks. The home team not only actively put pressure on the opponent and defended reliably, but also performed well in attack. When building attacks, they tried to play short passes, but if the situation called for long passes, they used them.
FC Alexandria
There were few chances at goal for both teams in the first half. In the 14th minute, Shevchenko came out of the gate in time and took the ball at the feet of Pedrinho. Sudakov made a cool pass to the Brazilian, throwing the ball over Kopina. In the 21st minute, Kriskiv lost the ball in the center of the field, Kulakov, after a pass from his partner, approached the penalty area and fired a powerful shot towards the far corner of the goal – slightly inaccurate. In the 42nd minute, Konoplya threw the ball into the penalty area to Eguinaldo, who fired a volley – the ball flew past the far corner of the goal.
In the first half, Zubkov was injured in a collision with Kalyuzhny. Shved took the field instead of Alexander, who had been recovering from an injury for a very long time. The previous time Marjan played in the UPL was in September last year.
From the beginning of the second half of the match, the hosts took the advantage. Rotan’s players controlled the ball better than in the first half. But Pusic’s players were much more guilty of inaccurate passes. The fight took place mainly in Shakhtar’s half of the field, which did not at all look like a team with championship ambitions. However, the hosts were unable to translate their advantage into goals scored. The beginning and development of attacks performed by Rotan’s players were of sufficient quality, but the actions in the final stage were unsatisfactory. Shakhtar goalkeeper Riznyk did not have to work hard, because the Alexandrians’ shots were either inaccurate or blocked by defenders. The Pitmen threatened Shevchenko’s goal only once. In the 63rd minute, Shved beat Martynyuk and passed the ball into the penalty area to Bondarenko. Artem shot, but Campos blocked the shot.
FC Alexandria
At the 78th minute, an air raid alert was announced again in the Kirovograd region. The forced pause lasted about 35 minutes. It benefited the Shakhtar players. In the final part of the game, they created several dangerous chances near the Alexandria goal. One day the hosts were saved by goalkeeper Shevchenko. At another point, the ball hit the goal post after Shved’s shot. As a result, the match ended in a draw. If Shakhtar had snatched victory in the last minutes, the result of the match would have been unfair. “Alexandria” definitely didn’t deserve to lose today, and Pusic’s team definitely didn’t play enough to win.
Ukrainian Premier League. 18th round
Oleksandriya – Shakhtar – 0:0
Warnings: Campos (22), Martyniuk (65), Kalitvintsev (78), Skorko (90+1) – Kevin (24), Kryskiv (50), Matvienko (88).
“Alexandria”: Shevchenko, Kovalets (Belyaev, 69), Kalitvintsev, Kulakov (De, 73), Shulyansky (Jevani, 69), Loginov, Martynyuk (Shostak, 78), Kalyuzhny, Campos, Kopina, Mikhailenko (Skorko, 78).
“Miners”: Riznyk, Bondar, Eginaldo (Sican, 46), Kryskiv (Stepanenko, 56), Sudakov, Zubkov (Swede, 35), Bondarenko, Matvienko, Pedrinho, Konoplya, Kevin (Traore, 56).
Arbitrator: Denis Shurman (Kyiv region).
Stadium: “Nika” (Alexandria, Kirovograd region).
Our ratings:
“Alexandria” (substitutions): Belyaev – 5.5, Dzhevani – 5.0, De – b/o, Shostak – b/o, Skorko – b/o.
Shakhtar (substitutions): Shved – 5.5, Stepanenko – 5.5, Sican – 5.5, Traore – 5.5.
ALEXANDRIA – MINER. TEXT BROADCAST OF THE MATCH
2024-02-26 15:19:00
#Nonchampionship #game #Shakhtar #shared #points #Alexandria #Sport.ua
