This weekend sees the matches of the 28th round of the Ukrainian championship season-2023/24. In the central match on Saturday, 11 May, Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv met. The match took place in Lviv at the Arena Lviv stadium.
Photo — Yuri YurievUkrainian Championship. 28th round
"SHAKHTER (Donetsk) - DYNAMO (Kyiv) - 1:0 ( 1:0)
Goal: Sudakov (33 pen.)
Warnings: Sudakov (27), Matvienko (41) - Yarmolenko (87).
"Dynamo": 1.Buschan - 24.Tymchik, 4.Popov, 25.Dyachuk, 2.Vivcharenko (44.Dubinchak, 87) - 6.Brazhko, 10.Shaparenko - 9.Voloshyn (7.Yarmolenko, 46), 29.Buyalsky (K) (8.Shepelev, 77), 22.Kabaev (99.Ponomarenko, 87) - 11.Vanat.
Substitutes: 35.Nesheret, 18.Andriyevskiy, 20.Karavaev, 30.Diallo, 32.Mikhavko, 34.Sirota, 37.Tsarenko, 77.Benito.
"Shakhtar: 31.Riznyk, 5.Bondar, 8.Kryskiv, 10.Sudakov (30.Marlon, 84), 11.Zubkov (7.Eguinaldo, 84), 14.Sikan (2.Traore, 61), 16.Azarov (44.Rakitsky, 72), 21.Bondarenko (6.Stepanenko, 61), 22.Matvienko (K), 26.Konoplya, 37.Kelsey.
Reserves: 1.Rudko, 9.Shved, 13.Gocholesvili, 23.Pedrinho, 25.Miroshi, 29.Nazarina, 39.Neverton.
Statistics and transcript of the match >>>
Post-match press conference >>>
All Ukrainian league results, standings, game calendar >>>
"Shakhtar" expectedly offered Dynamo their aggressive attacking actions from the first minutes, but the Donetsk side failed to crack the Kyiv defence. In the opening period of the game, there was no actual sharpness at the Bilo-Syni's goal, despite the Pitmen's full territorial advantage.
For the first time Shakhtar made Dynamo fans nervous at the end of the ninth minute of the match, when Sikan shot from the right side of the penalty area - Buschan reacted, but dangerously kicked the ball in front of him; fortunately for Dynamo, none of Shakhtar players was on the receiving end. However, the Kyivians did not take long to respond: on 16 minutes of the game, Shovkovskiy's team's attack ended with Kabaev's curling shot from 20 metres, and this time Riznyk had to work hard not to concede.
Towards the midway point of the half, the game levelled out and football became positional. Shakhtar were more often with the ball, but it did not bring them any dividends. However, Dynamo could not boast of any of their creative actions in this stretch of the match.
The main event of the first half came in the 32nd minute of the match, when the head referee after using VAR decided to award a penalty to Dynamo for Vivcharenko's hand play in the penalty area and Sudakov opened the score with a shot from the spot - 1:0. The Kyivians responded almost immediately in the form of Tymchyk's dangerous shot from the right side of the penalty area, but Riznyk again saved Shakhtar in a throw-in, not allowing the ball to fly into the far corner of their goal. Shaparenko played on the rebound, but his shot from an acute angle missed the target. As a result, the teams went to the break with the score 1:0 on the scoreboard.
The start of the second half was clearly in favour of Dynamo, who started to act extremely active with the resumption of the game. But it did not lead to any chances at Shakhtar's goal. Unless you count Konoply's dangerous shot on goal after a corner kick, which almost caught Riznyk by surprise, and Vanat's long-range shot, which did not cause much trouble for the Pitmen's goalkeeper.
Time was running out, Dynamo continued to hold the advantage, while the closer the end of the match came, the more the Pitmen tried to "dry up" the game and create pauses in it by any means - they were the only thing that helped to disrupt Kyiv's attacking tempo. And in the end, Shakhtar still managed to keep the winning scoreline at 1-0.
This result draws a line under the championship race in the UPL of the current season: two rounds before the end of the championship Shakhtar continue to be the sole leaders, now ahead of Dynamo by 7 points, which accordingly makes them out of reach.
In the next round Dynamo will face Kryvbas from Kryvyi Rih. This meeting will take place next Sunday, 19 May, in Kyiv at the Dynamo stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovskiy (kick-off - at 15:30).
Oleksandr POPOV from Arena Lviv stadium
