Shakhtar — Kryvbas, photo FC Shakhtar Donetsk December 01, 2025, 20:01

Shakhtar Donetsk, the sole leader of the championship race of the Ukrainian Premier League, won another victory on the international stage in the middle of last week, defeating the Irish Shamrock Rovers (2:1) in the UEFA Conference League, thus raising their spirits and improving the country’s corresponding association rating. Everything is fine, but immediately after that confrontation, the “miners” had to return to their homeland to prepare for an equally difficult confrontation.

The fourteenth round of the Ukrainian Premier League ended with the central match between Arda Turan’s team and Kryvyi Rih Kryvbas at the Lviv Arena, which still remembers how Shakhtar’s last similar jump from the international arena back to the domestic one with a long flight from the British Isles ended. Cherkasy LNZ, which ensured that historic defeat (4:1), is behind the “miners” in the tournament table, so it was directly interested in Patrick van Leeuwen’s team achieving the desired result.

However, already in the first seconds of the confrontation, Shakhtar should have opened the score when Meirellish headed to the center of the free-kick to Marlon Gomez, who finished it with a shot over the goal in the fall. After that, Kryvbas tried to push the game away from their own goal, but soon received a second dangerous attack – a finish from Pedrinho Azevedo on the left wing of the free kick past the near post.

And if the players of the “miners” allowed themselves to make mistakes at these moments, because they probably thought that in the future their number would only increase – not without reason, then the guests took a pragmatic approach to the situation in the 13th minute, when the same Marlon for some reason pulled the ball to the right flank of the defense, where he was robbed by Parako and immediately shot to the near post for Mykytyshyn, who scored a touch. Fashion

It was already a different mood from the Turan team, which was brutally burned by wastefulness, so it immediately went looking for a goal in return. And in 10 minutes she did find him. Marlon tried to make amends for his mistake and mistake early in the game by darting down the left flank with the Swede’s cross for Meirellish to finish calmly, but VAR replayed the episode which saw Gomes step on Jurcec’s foot as he advanced. And this, as it turned out, was a foul by an attacking player.

However, Shakhtar did find their goal, but already 25 minutes after the missed one. A corner kick from the right flank on the near side ended with a header from Konopli to Konate near the goal, the rebound from which was instantly completed by Ocheretko. But not even two minutes had passed, when Kryvbas responded with the same coin – from the left wing, a corner kick was sent to the far side, where Tverdokhlib dropped it to Vilivald, who put the ball into the net.

And, surprisingly, a moment later the Kryvbas defender could have scored a goal in his own goal, if he had not hit the crossbar while trying to intercept Eginaldu’s cross from the right wing. It was a hot half, agree.

And the second in terms of tension was not far behind him. After all, successive fires began in the penalty areas of both teams. First, Fesyun pulled Tverdokhlib’s shot from under the crossbar, and then Makhankov parried Meirellish’s header from an even closer distance. The beginning was very solid, as was the emotional sequel.

It was difficult for Shakhtar to maintain a consistently high pace of his own attacks, so Kryvbas had room for quick strikes in response. And here the defense of the “miners” could clearly overlook their opponents and create additional grounds for Fesyun’s intervention in the game. But a repeat of the failed matches against Kolos this spring and the recent experience against LNZ did not work out.

The sixth out of four was passing, yes, a little lost time, minutes, as Shakhtar again attacked someone else’s goal from the second floor, and this time Marlon threw his head at Eginalda under the empty net. And then the referee gave a few more minutes to play, and here already Makhankov really saved the team from defeat during Elias’ shot, which was quite similar to a potential winning goal.

In the next round, Donetsk Shakhtar will visit Kovaliv Kolos, while Kryvyi Rih Kryvbas will host Oleksandria.

Shakhtar — Kryvbas 2:2
Goals: Ocheretko, 38, Eginaldu, 90+6 — Zaderaka, 13, Willivald, 40

Miner: Fezyun — Konoplia (Vinicius, 80), Bondar, Matvienko, Pedrinho Azevedo — Bondarenko (Izaki, 63), Ocheretko (Kryskiv, 63), Marlon Gomez — Eginaldu, Meirellish (Elias, 63), Neverton.

Kryvbas: Makhankov — Yurchets, Konate, Wiliwald, Dibango — Zaderaka, Arauho, Tverdokhlib — Lin (Shevchenko, 75), Parako (Mulyk, 80), Mykytyshyn (Bekavac, 75).

Warning: Pedrinho Azevedo, Eguinaldo — Conate