The Ukrainian Premier League is getting interesting again.
After a defeat (by the score of 1-3) at Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk last matchday, last-season champions Shakhtar Donetsk could have gone back on top with a win, at home, against Metalist Kharkiv (who have just been disqualified by UEFA from the Champions League for match fixing!)
But things are many times not as easy as they may seem.
So was the case for Mircea Lucescu's team.
The game ended 1-1, and Metalist remained on top.
Moreover, the visitors should have had two penalties. In the first half, the team from Kharkiv should have been awarded a penalty kick after a Shakhtar Donetsk clearly held the shirt of one of Metalist's forwards for a long time, impeding him from playing a dangerous cross. And, towards the end, at 1-1, again there was extremely aggressive unpunished blocking by Shakhtar defenders, in their own penalty area.
Shakhtar scored first, with a quickly headed-in cross, but Metalist equalized with 13 minutes remaining, again from a header.
And it looks like the team from Donetsk finally has some solid competition.
Hopefully, nobody is going to run away with this title, at least not for a while.
Tomorrow, Dynamo Kyiv (surprisingly, only sixth in the table right now,) is playing Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.
Highlights from Shakhtar - Metalist:
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