“Shakhtar unexpectedly lost to Karpaty. Part I
A match from which almost no one expected a miracle, but which allowed some to prove the correctness of the chosen path, while others, underestimating the opponent, risked losing precious points from the standpoint of the fight for the championship. However, even before the match it was obvious that for “Karpaty” the quality of the game, thanks to which Oleksandr Sevidov can strengthen its position in the eyes of the owner of the club, rather than gaining tournament points, will be decisive.
The coach of the Lviv team fielded the most optimal and predictable lineup for this match. Goalkeeper – Alexander Ilyushchankov. Pavel Pashayev, Gregor Balazhits, Igor Plastun and Vladimir Kostevich acted in the defense from right to left. The supporting area was closed by the captain Valeriy Fedorchuk and Oleg Holodyuk. Denis Vasin, Vadim Strashkevic and Mladen Bartulovic played under forward Aleksandr Gladkiy who recovered from injury.
Mircea Lucescu was not surprised with the choice of basics. Anton Kanibolotskiy played in the goal. Vasily Kobin featured on the right in defense in the absence of the disqualified Darijo Srna. The duo of centerbacks consists of Oleksandr Kucher and Jaroslav Rakitskiy. Ismaily played on the left in the defense. A pair of “wave-cutters” – Taras Stepanenko and Dmitry Grechishkin. Alex Teixeira, Douglas Costa (right) and Taison (left) acted under striker Luiz Adriano, who captained Shakhtar for the first time in his career.
From the opening seconds the visitors seized the advantage and in fact did not let the rivals out of their half of the field. In the first seven minutes, during which the Lviv side were defending in the bottom nine and saw only two unassisted crosses from Vasin, the Donetsk team laid siege to Ilyushchankov’s goal. Moments, it is true, there were no, but it was a typical “Stalingrad. And it was under these circumstances, Karpaty opened the scoring in the match. A strong pass from the home team’s half seemed not to reach the addressee. Ismaily was first on the top ball, who played unsuccessfully, dropping the “ball” in the direction of his own goal. In the end, instead of Rakitskiy, the rebound found Gladkiy, who came out with Kanibolotskiy and shot on the power play to the center – 1:0.
