Well-known Ukrainian journalist Artem Frankov told what he expects from the central match of the 14th round of the Ukrainian Championship, in which Dnipro-1 and Shakhtar Donetsk will play today.
Artem Frankov“As an aperitif for the 2022 World Cup, the Premier League of Ukraine offers the main dish of at least the first round of the championship - a match between two undisputed leaders of the race who have not lost a single match yet. Dnipro-1 scored 32 points in 12 rounds, making only two draws with a goal difference of 28-7, Shakhtar made one more loss, but in 11 rounds (25-7) and is 5 points behind the competitor in terms of scored and 2 for lost ones. What else is needed for intrigue?
The return of the glorious time when these teams met with a difference of a year in the Ukrainian Cup final, and Shakhtar won two victories - one in the penalty shootout, and the second due to a terrible mistake by the central defender? However, I'm not sure that this is a pleasant analogy - and so much is said that our football has slipped back into the 90s...
It is better to remember the famous times of the "Quartet of Candidates". Somehow, Dnipro, a kind of predecessor of the current Dnipro-1, hehe, under the leadership of Oleg Protasov won the first part of the season, but then in the winter they bought seven players out of some and predictably slipped to fourth position. It turns out that it’s generally better for Dnipro residents not to live with memories.
For both teams that are actively involved in European competitions and entered the spring, there was a feeling that they had passed the peak of their form. Shakhtar, for example, successfully skipped this segment in the league due to two postponements of their matches, and when they could not postpone the third one, they immediately ran into a draw with Oleksandriya, they also failed to outplay Zorya (both matches ended in 2: 2). In fairness, we note that both of these opponents are included in the group of leaders, and therefore the fights with them could not be simple by definition. Dnepr-1 misfired with Vorskla and Ingulets (1:1 and 2:2, respectively).
I am sure that the overwhelming majority are somehow tuned in to Shakhtar's success, which is also confirmed by the odds in favor of the Pitmen (although not too obvious). It seems to me that the teams of Oleksandr Kucher (against his own!) and Igor Yovichevich (also against his own - and recently his own!) are equal at least now, and we are in for a completely unpredictable confrontation in which the views of fans of one camp will be turned primarily to Dovbik from Pikhalenok, the other - to Mudrik and Sudakov," Frankov said.
