Donetsk's Shakhtar convincingly beat Zakarpattia's Olkhovtsy in the round of 16 of the Ukrainian Cup and confidently advanced to the next round of the tournament. Arda Turan's team thrashed the Second League representative 3:0, showing their class even under conditions of deep squad rotation. Full details of the match and goal statistics can be checked in the article on sport.rbc.ua.
The Zakarpattia side's sensational run
Olkhovtsy, competing in the Second League and being absolute outsiders in Group A without a single win in their division, have already created a loud sensation in the current Ukrainian Cup campaign. In the round of 32, the Zakarpattia side eliminated an elite representative — Odesa's Chornomorets (1:0). The squad, which attempted to give a fight to the reigning Ukrainian champions, features experienced players Mykhailo Shestakov, Serhiy Panasenko, and Dmytro Nemchaninov, while the goalkeeper for the home side was Abramov.
Arda Turan's deep rotation
Shakhtar is forced to operate under an extremely tight schedule — three matches in seven days. The head coach of the Donetsk team, Arda Turan, resorted to deep rotation before the important league match against LNZ and fielded a reserve lineup, giving a chance to rotation players. The Miners started the match with the following lineup: Fesyuk, Azarov, Marlon Santos, Nazaryna, Vinicius, Tsukanov, Smietana, Bruniño, Ryan, Elias, Prosper.
Match flow: Nazaryna's cannon and debut goals
The Donetsk side immediately seized the initiative on the field and regularly troubled the home goalkeeper. The score was opened in the 30th minute by Yehor Nazaryna, who with a stunning free-kick strike from almost the center of the field hit the top corner of the goal. Towards the end of the first half, the Miners doubled their advantage: Azarov delivered a pass into the center of the penalty area to Carvalho, who had replaced the injured Ryan, and the latter sent the ball low into the far corner. According to the source, some of the goals in this match were debut ones for their scorers.
Second half and the final result
The start of the second half was marked by bold attacks from Olkhovtsy, however Shakhtar continued to play more sharply. In particular, Dmytro Kryskiv tested the strength of the home crossbar. And in the 72nd minute, the Miners finally settled all questions about the winner: Viktor Tsukanov successfully finished off the chance, smashing the ball under the crossbar — 3:0. Thus, the Donetsk team secured their place in the next round of the Ukrainian Cup, while the Zakarpattia side, despite worthy resistance, ended their run in the tournament.
