Kharkiv - Shakhtar. Forecast and preview of the Ukrainian championship match
On Sunday, August 16, in the Kyiv region at the "Levyi Bereh" stadium, a match of the third round of the Ukrainian Premier League in football will take place, where Kamianets-Podilskyi's "Kharkiv" will play against Donetsk's "Shakhtar". The starting whistle of the referee Oleksandr Shandor from Lviv will sound at 15:30 Kyiv time.
Kharkiv.
Ambitions. The key factor that should drive "Kharkiv" forward this season. The club even underwent rebranding in the offseason, completely changing the perception of its management structure. But not the gameplay. And now it seems to be the biggest problem for the "crimson-gold" under the leadership of Mladen Bartulovich.
"Kharkiv" has done really quality work in the transfer market this summer. But overall, at the start of the new season, this has not led to a significant breakthrough. Two matches have already passed. Against "Veres" (1:0) and "Polissya" (1:3). And only one victory in these matches - and that with critically serious problems in the attacking line and a decisive goal in the final minutes. We are talking, of course, about the match against the Rivne team - against Zhytomyr it was a complete failure, and the prestige goal looked more like just a bonus for participating in the match.
And now Bartulovich's team has to play another crucial match for the whole season. If "Kharkiv" wants - and it obviously does - to fight for high places in the standings, then something needs to be shown in matches against teams that also strive for this. And here, it is more about the principle and the need to make a loud statement. No one will seriously perceive even the fact if Kharkiv manages to beat absolutely all opponents before the international break. There simply won't be teams that could even slightly match the capabilities of "Kharkiv". But the current champion is a different story. A serious challenge. But is Bartulovich's team ready for it right now?
Shakhtar.
The thoughts of Donetsk's "Shakhtar" are currently revolving around the future participation in the UEFA Champions League this autumn. The draw will take place soon, after which Arda Turan's team will be able to at least roughly estimate what to expect in the biggest international club tournament. Meanwhile, the "miners" are warming up in the championship, where the calendar was quite favorable in the first two rounds, but the next month promises to be crucial for the whole season.
"Shakhtar" defeated "Kudrivka" (5:1) and "Epicenter" (2:0) - it can't be said that anyone expected a different performance from Turan's team at the beginning of the season. But now the level of competition is rising. Quite sharply - after "Kharkiv" there will be "Polissya", "Karpaty", "Chornomorets", and LNZ. A quite dense schedule, even though the "miners" play their matches once a week and will not participate in the early stages of the Ukrainian Cup.
At the same time, Turan has to decide on the main squad, which is expected to gain European glory in the Champions League, while the rest of the players will have to deal with the baggage that the team will have after the next month. Now few can name a factor that would prevent Shakhtar from defending the title. But this is now, against the backdrop of two victories over teams with far from the highest ambitions, while only from the third round will the Donetsk team face truly indicative duels. Pedrinho da Silva's muscle injury happened, oh, so untimely.
History of meetings.
The football paths of "Kharkiv" and "Shakhtar" have crossed 7 times before: 5 victories for the "miners". Goal difference - 15:2. The biggest victory of the "orange-blacks" was 7:0 (2023). The teams last met in mid-March this year in Lviv when thanks to a goal from Pedrinho da Silva (from a penalty), Arda Turan's team won (1:0).
Femida.
The main referee of the upcoming match will be 37-year-old Oleksandr Shandor from Lviv, who has 64 matches in the "elite" division to his credit. The assistant referees will be Ruslan Yermolenko and Denys Marchenko, and the reserve referee will be Oleksandr Solovyan. The VAR system will be used in the match, headed by Viktor Kopiyevsky and Semen Shlonchak.
Prognosis Sport.ua:
Shakhtar's victory
