Sudak is on fire again, while Dynamo offers Shakhtar a chance. Key highlights from the 19th round of the UPL.

However, by the end of the week, all eight matches of the Ukrainian Premier League were completed. "Champion" shares the most intriguing highlights from these games.

Match of the Round

The highlight of the round was supposed to be the match between the second and third teams in the league right now. Oleksandriya exceeded the boldest expectations, accumulating more points in the first half of the season than in the entire previous championship (36 compared to 34) – and as a result, they entered the championship race. Shakhtar doesn't need an introduction, even if they are currently sitting modestly in third place.

Overall, the match confirmed that the "miners" must be taken seriously, regardless of their poor stretches. The same applies to their star player: Heorhii Sudakov had a dismal 2024, but now he made a difference in this crucial match. The winning goal came from a follow-up shot by the "ten" after providing an assist for a dangerous strike; after that, Sudakov displayed his skill by carrying the ball and striking into the far corner.

Unfortunately, Oleksandriya could only showcase a very defensive style of play and a reactive game. Rotan mentioned after the match that he was pleased with their compactness, but in general, Shakhtar's defense faced significantly more problems against much weaker opponents. After 19 rounds, Oleksandriya has conceded only 16 goals, but nine of those came in three matches against Shakhtar and Dynamo.

It seems that in matches against the top teams, the magic of the "Rotan style" does not work.

Upset of the Round

This victory for Shakhtar is all the more valuable because Dynamo lost points against Vorskla. The Kyiv team was unable to benefit from the emergency relocation of the game to Kyiv due to Vorskla's traditional field issues. Here’s how the vice president of Vorskla explained it:

Nevertheless, Vorskla played a solid, competitive match even on Dynamo's home turf, where they didn't fall short in terms of chances and deserved a draw. Now the gap between Kyiv and Shakhtar is eight points, but the "miners" have a game in hand. If we assume that the "orange and black" win that match and also defeat Dynamo in the classic encounter, it’s unclear why the "white and blue" are still considered favorites in the race. Their schedule is significantly tougher: upcoming away matches against Polissia, Kryvbas, Rukh, and LNZ.

The match featured several interesting moments. Maksym Dyachuk started only because of Popov's suspension – and he made a brilliant through ball for the team’s only goal. On the other hand, the defense lacked rigor with Dyachuk on the field: Sklyar scored after slipping in behind him.

At the same time, it was Sklyar who failed to reach the ball in a tackle after Dyachuk’s pass – so one might say he redeemed himself for that mistake.

Goal of the Round

Left Bank had a stretch of 903 minutes without scoring a single goal in the first part of the season. Even for the Ukrainian league, with its penchant for defensive football, this is the second-longest goalless streak in history – essentially, it's even the first. The longest streak of 982 minutes was set by Karpaty in 2002, but they had reasons to justify it. Myron Markevych was already known for his disputes with the club's management and resigning – and the "lions" were merely finishing that season without any particular hopes or ambitions.

However, the Kyiv team definitely needed to strengthen their attack to avoid relegation to the First League – and in January, they bolstered their squad with Dmytro Shastal from Polissia. As a result, on Saturday, Shastal scored a fantastic one-touch goal that brought Left Bank a victory over Chornomorets and even lifted his club out of the relegation zone. The team had been performing well defensively, accumulating several scoreless draws – and in matches like the one against the Odesa team, they only needed to create one goal to secure a win.

Meanwhile, Polissia dropped points against Obolon. Players continue to arrive in Zhytomyr: this winter, the club once again broke its own transfer record (1.75 million euros for forward Batista), yet the Zhytomyr team still struggles to consistently earn points. Players are given too little time to adapt – and perhaps Shastal wasn’t enough against Obolon. Of course, it’s not just about Shastal: in the same match against Chornomorets, Emil Mustafaiev played, who moved to Polissia in 2023 and is currently in Odesa on loan.

Save of the Round

Karpaty redeemed themselves in front of their fans after losing to Dynamo by defeating LNZ in their first home match of the year. The victory was far from easy – for over an hour, the Lviv team played with a man down. Hryhorchuk's team created many chances, and after one of the shots, even the goalkeeper had no chance, but Timur Stetskov made a selfless tackle to save the goal.

One cannot forget that Stetskov came to Karpaty through pain, sweat, and tears. The defender had an excellent season at Kryvbas, which caught the interest of the Lviv club – and Stetskov was intrigued by the offer. However, the clubs couldn't agree on his transfer last summer, and the player refused to extend his contract with Kryvbas – so he spent the entire autumn playing for the youth team. Only in January did Stetskov finally transfer – and as we can see, the club fought for him for a good reason.