Shakhtar begin the spring part of the UPL with a victory over Minaj

On February 28, Shakhtar faced Minaj in Lviv in the postponed Premier League MD9 game.

Inspired by coming back to the Ukrainian stadium after a three-month break, the Pitmen began to attack from the first minutes: and if Rakitskyi lacked a few centimetres to score after a corner in the first dangerous episode, then in the 8th minute, Taras Stepanenko finished another corner kick from Sudakov with an accurate header, making it 0-1. The Uzhhorod side tried to respond immediately, but Trubin didn’t allow Vyshnevskyi to outplay him. In return, the Orange-and-Blacks doubled the advantage in the 15th minute: Danylo Sikan finished Matviienko’s cross to the penalty box with one touch – 0-2. The teams continued to go forward and exchange chances, and in the middle of the half, the nominal hosts even managed to pull one goal back – Vorobchak scored from outside the penalty area. But Igor Jovicevic’s men had the last word in the first half: in the 40th minute, Konoplia won the ball and was brought down in the penalty area, and Heorhii Sudakov confidently converted the penalty, making it 1-3.

Shakhtar continued to control the game after the break, but without forcing of the events. Zubkov had a good opportunity, however his powerful attempt was blocked by Bandura. The fourth goal of the visitors happened in the 60th minute when Zubkov passed to Danylo Sikan in the box from the left wing. The forward shot inside the near post, making it 1-4. Immediately after that, the brace scorer was replaced by the newcomer of the club, Kevin Kelsy, and Giorgi Gocholeishvili made a debut together with him. The Venezuelan forward entered the game actively and had a few opportunities: his header after a cross from Konoplia was taken by the goalkeeper and then Kelsy finished a cross from the left, but Bandura saved his team once again. Yehor Nazaryna had a chance to score, however his net buster from a free kick flew past the top corner. During injury time, the keeper pulled Topalov’s attempt and Konoplia’s finishing hit the crossbar.

2022-23, Ukraine - Premier League

Minaj - Shakhtar 1:4 (1:3)
Goals: Stepanenko, 8 (0:1); Sikan, 15 (0:2); Vorobchak, 31 (1:2); Sudakov, 40 (penalty) (1:3); Sikan, 60 (1:4)

Minaj: Bandura; Rogozynskyi (Melnyk, 46); Horin O.; Baidal (Shyshka, 46); Tverdokhilb Y. (Palamar, 74); Nyemchaninov; Vitenchuk; Vorobchak (Holub, 85); Ghecev; Honchar; Vyshnevskyy O. (Kolesnyk D., 79)
Bench: Kemkin; Penkov; Dmytruk T.; Chuiev; Kravchuk Y.; Petko
Yellow Cards: Ghecev 93

Shakhtar: Trubin; Bondar V.; Konoplya; Matviyenko; Rakitskiy (Topalov, 61); Stepanenko (Nazaryna, 67); Sudakov (Petriak, 79); Bondarenko A-m; Djurasek; Sikan (Kelsy, 61); Zubkov (Gocholeishvili, 61)
Bench: Riznyk D.; O. Shevchenko; Kozik; Lucas Taylor; Mikhaylichenko B.; Totovytskyi; Traoré Las.