“Shakhtar” faces a logistical endurance test: a challenging schedule combines battles in the Conference League quarterfinals and a “golden” match in the UPL
Donetsk’s “Shakhtar” has officially begun preparations for the first match of the Conference League quarterfinals against the Dutch AZ. The team has already arrived in Krakow, Poland, where the nominally home match will take place.
This was reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing the club’s official website.
Also read: Hundreds of millions on homegrown talents: how much “Shakhtar” and “Dynamo” earned from the sales of their graduates
The extreme schedule of the “miners”
The upcoming schedule for the “miners” looks extremely tight. On Thursday, April 9, “Shakhtar” will host AZ at the Henryk Reyman Municipal Stadium in Krakow. This match will start at 22:00 Kyiv time.
View this post on Instagram
Immediately after the European Cup duel, the team will head to Cherkasy for a league match against their main competitor for the “gold” – LNZ (April 13).
This marathon will conclude on April 16 with the return match in the Netherlands. According to analysts at Mackolik, to conduct these three matches, “Shakhtar” will need to cover a distance of over 5000 kilometers by planes and buses.
Shakhtar’s travels over the next week (map: x.com/mackolik)
The path to the semifinals
Both opponents in the Conference League have approached their face-off in good form.
Last weekend, the teams coached by Arda Turan and the acting head coach of the Alkmaar team, Li-Roy Echteld, played their respective matches in their national leagues. “Shakhtar” defeated Lviv’s “Rukh” (3:0) in the UPL and leads in lost points. Meanwhile, AZ beat “Fortuna” from Sittard (2:0) and is in 6th place in the Dutch championship with 45 points.
Recall that “Shakhtar” overcame Polish “Lech” in the 1/8 finals in a tense battle (winning 3:1 away and losing 1:2 at home). AZ demonstrated convincing football against Prague’s “Sparta,” defeating the Czechs twice with an aggregate score of 6:1.
The winner of the Ukrainian-Dutch confrontation will meet in the semifinals with the strongest team from the pair “Crystal Palace” (England) – “Fiorentina” (Italy).
Earlier, we reported on the results of the 22nd round of the UPL and the tournament standings of the leaders.
Source: rbc.ua +rel=”nofollow”
