The 2018 Ukrainian Cup final was a football match played on May 9, 2018, in Dnipro between Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv. The culmination of the 2017–18 Ukrainian Cup season, this was the second time the cup final had been held in Dnipro. The match was the 27th Ukrainian Cup Final since the fall of the Soviet Union. Shakhtar Donetsk emerged victorious in the match, defeating Dynamo Kyiv by a score of 2-0.

Road to Dnipro

Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away). Shakhtar DonetskRoundDynamo KyivOpponentResult2017–18 Ukrainian CupOpponentResultZorya Luhansk4–3 (A) (aet)Round of 16FC Oleksandriya3–2 (A) (aet)Veres Rivne4–0 (H)Quarter-finalsDesna Chernihiv2–0 (A)FC Mariupol5–1 (H)Semi-finalsSC Dnipro-14–1 (A)

Previous encounters

The game between Shakhtar and Dynamo has become the main fixture of every season and received a nickname of Klasychne ("Classic"). Before this game, both teams had met in Ukrainian Cup finals nine times, the first being in 2002. Games between the two clubs are known to be very intense and out of the nine previous finals fixtures, only two - 2003 and 2017 - did not have red cards shown to players. There were a total of 14 red cards shown, with 13 in finals alone.

Before this final, out of the previous nine, Dynamo had won five, one on penalty kicks, while Shakhtar had won four. In total, both teams met in this competition 13 times, once in semifinals, once in quarterfinals, once in round of 16 and once in round of 32. The total record is +4=1-8 in favor of Shakhtar. There were only two games in which Shakhtar did not score against Dynamo, in 2005 and in 2015.

It was Shakhtar's 150th game in the Ukrainian Cup competition. This was Dynamo's 16th time reaching the final stage. Both teams won the cup trophy an even number of times, 11 apiece. It was the eighth consecutive final for The Miners since 2011.

Before the final, in 2017–18 season Shakhtar and Dynamo has met three times within the league competition where Dynamo has won two and one game was tied.

For Yuriy Mozharovskyi this was the third cup final. With him, Dynamo had already beat Shakhtar twice; however, considering results of the Ukrainian Super Cup in 2014, total tally between those teams with this referee at such level is 2 to 1 respectfully.

Before the game The game was scheduled on the day of the former Soviet holiday Victory Day that was continued to be celebrated in the Russian Federation as a national holiday.

Before the final in interview to the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU) website Dynamo manager Aliaksandr Khatskevich stated that his team intends to continue to compete for the championship, despite trailing five points behind the Miners with just two more rounds before finish line.Khatskevich: Pyatov, Rakytskyi, Taison are the key players of Shakhtar (Хацкевич: Пятов, Ракицкий, Тайсон — ключевые игроки Шахтера). Sport Arena. 9 May 2018 However, with the victory in the Cup, Dynamo was also happy. Identifying the key players in Shakhtar, the head coach of Dynamo pointed to Pyatov, Rakitskiy, and Taison. Khatskevich stated that he considers them leaders in each of the team's positions. At the end the Dynamo's manager drew attention that today's game was differ from previous ones in which Kyivans had not yielded to Miners. In the championship the White Blues defeated Donchans twice and one time a game ended in draw.

At the same time Shakhtar, manager Paulo Fonseca, also giving an interview to the FFU website, stated that he anticipates a very difficult and emotional match against Dynamo in the final of Ukrainian Cup.Fonseca: Dynamo shows a more pragmatic football (Фонсека: Динамо показывает более прагматичный футбол). Sport Arena. 9 May 2018 According to the Portuguese, both teams have changed significantly compared with the last years final, in which Shakhtar beat Dynamo Kyiv (1–0). He then also explained why games with Dynamo are for him special and at the end highlighted the principles on which the game of his team is built.

According to the Ukrainian international and Shakhtar player Marlos Kyiv became stronger in comparison with last years final.Marlos: The Khatskevich's Dynamo is stronger than it was with Rebrov (Марлос: Динамо Хацкевича сильнее, чем было при Реброве). Sport Arena. 9 May 2018 Another Ukraine international and Dynamo player Ruslan Rotan stated that Dynamo play with two ex-Dniprians: Denys Boiko and him.Rotan: Dniprian fans will be cheering for Dynamo against Shakhtar (Ротань: днепровские фаны будут болеть за Динамо против Шахтера). Sport Arena. 9 May 2018 Nonetheless, Dnipro fans were cheering for Dynamo as there are traditionally more affiliated with the club. Active fans of Dnipro and Kyivan clubs befriend with one another therefore the support was on the Dynamo's side.

Before the game, a street brawl occurred between both sets of fans, which consequently led to some 20 individuals being detained, according to a representative of local police.They threw at a car a garbage container: in Dnipro football fans held a brawl (Бросались в авто мусорным контейнером: в Днепре футбольные фанаты устроили драку. Видео). Glavred. 9 May 2018Fans of Dynamo and Shakhtar have scuffled with police before the Cup's final (Фанаты Динамо и Шахтера подрались с полицией перед финалом Кубка). Sport Arena. 9 May 2018 One police officer received a burn injury due to the use of a pyrotechnic device and a police patrol vehicle had been vandalized.

Some minor technical issue occurred when about 15 minutes before the match, the stadium lights stopped working, and only scoreboard and commercial ads boards worked.At Dnipro-Arena was disappearing light before final of the UC Dynamo—Shakhtar (На Днепр-Арене пропадал свет перед финалом КУ Динамо – Шахтер). Sport Arena. 9 May 2018

Match

Shakhtar Donetsk: GK 30 Andriy Pyatov RB 2 Bohdan Butko CB 4 Serhiy Kryvtsov CB 44 Yaroslav Rakitskyi LB 31 Ismaily DM 6 Taras Stepanenko DM 8 Fred RW 11 MarlosAW 21 Alan Patrick LM 7 Taison (c) CF 19 Facundo Ferreyra Substitutes:GK 26 Mykyta Shevchenko DF 5 David Khocholava DF 98 Dodô MF 12 Wellington Nem MF 74 Viktor Kovalenko MF 9 Dentinho FW 88 Olarenwaju Kayode Manager: Paulo FonsecaDynamo Kyiv: GK 71 Denys Boyko RB 94 Tomasz Kędziora CB 26 Mykyta Burda CB 44 Tamás Kádár LB 23 Josip Pivarić DM 19 Denys Harmash DM 8 Volodymyr Shepelyev RW 15 Viktor Tsyhankov (c) AM 40 Mykola Shaparenko LW 7 Benjamin Verbič CF 41 Artem Besyedin Substitutes:GK 72 Artur Rudko MF 17 Ruslan Rotan MF 46 Akhmed Alibekov MF 9 Mykola Morozyuk MF 99 Heorhiy Tsitaishvili DF 30 Artem Shabanov CF 70 Dieumerci Mbokani Manager: Aliaksandr Khatskevich

MAN OF THE MATCH

MATCH OFFICIALS Assistant referees: O.Voityuk (Kharkiv) S.Bekker (Zaporizhia) Fourth official: V.Romanov (Dnipro) Supervisor of refereeing: V.Derdo (Chornomorsk)MATCH RULES 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Seven named substitutes. Maximum of 3 substitutions.

Statistics Shakhtar Donetsk StatisticDynamo-Shakhtar. FC Dynamo Kyiv website. 9 May 2018 Dynamo Kyiv 2 Goals 0 4 Shots on target 3 15 Shots towards goal 10 5 Corners 5 1 Off-sides 5 13 Fouls 23 2 Cautioned fouls 4 0 Ejections 0 56 Ball possessions (%) 44

After the game In the last few minutes of the game, Shakhtar right back Bohdan Butko suffered an injury on the 90th minute and was stretchered off the field.Butko received an injury and did not finish the game with Dynamo (Бутко получил травму и не доиграл матч с Динамо). Sport Arena. 9 May 2018 He was replaced by David Khocholava. During the game, Butko assisted the first goal by Ferreyra.

In the post game press conference, Khatskevich stated that no one showed oneself expressively and he won't point to nobody.Khatskevich about the defeat to Shakthar: "No one showed oneself expressively" (Хацкевич – о поражении Шахтеру: «Никто ярко себя не проявил»). Sport Arena. 9 May 2018 The team lost all together. He stated that Dynamo were punished for their own mistakes, but when Shakhtar were making mistakes, Dynamo failed to punish them. This says about the class of footballers. Khatskevich pointed that Dynamo have good young lads, but there is work to be done, in terms of mentality, technique and tactics.

During a "Futbol 1" broadcast, Fonseca stated that today that they were the team that dominated in the game, and that Shakhtar throughout the game were closer to goals than Dynamo.Fonseca: "All the game we were closer to goals than Dynamo" (Фонсека: «Весь матч были ближе к голам, чем Динамо»). Sport Arena. 9 May 2018 He noted that the Dynamo Kyiv defense was strong and organized but today Shakhtar had the correct tactics. Shakhtar showed patience and was scoring at right moments.

See also 2017–18 Ukrainian Premier League

References

External links

Dynamo - Shakhtar 0:2: "Miners" captured the Ukrainian Cup. Video of goals (Динамо – Шахтер – 0-2: "горняки" взяли Кубок Украины. Видео голов). Glavred. 9 May 2018 Ukrainian Cup final. Dynamo 0-2 Shakhtar. Game review (9 May 2018) (Финал Кубка Украины. Динамо 0-2 Шахтер. Обзор матча (9.05.2018)). Shakhtar Donetsk YouTube channel