Marked for Ivan Lytvynenko
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Defensive actions: 44. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Market19 Feb 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Metalist, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Feb 2029
At 21, Cauan Baptistella is already the best thing here
An average of 7.19 in a first team he is several years too young for. Metalist have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Market19 Feb 2029
The chase for Matvii Bodnar ended with $330.0K changing hands and Kryvbas out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Nicolás Arévalo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match17 Feb 2029
A 1‑0 win over Kolos, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Marked 8.35 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Feb 2029
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Defensive actions: 27, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 26 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad12 Feb 2029
The medical room confirms 48 days on the sidelines for Illia Krupskyi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Metalist this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market12 Feb 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Metalist is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
A performance of 9.26 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match10 Feb 2029
Inhulets made Metalist work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings20 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Yevhen Cheberko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2028
The manager makes an example of Nicolás Arévalo
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings20 Nov 2028
Marked 8.55 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Defences have started doubling up on Rafael Profini
8 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings20 Nov 2028
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Metalist lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jun 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Metalist is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Metalist this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jun 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ivan Lytvynenko and Metalist agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Mar 2028
The bid was some way short and Metalist did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ivan Kaliuzhnyi and Metalist agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Metalist this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market6 Mar 2028
Add another name to the list: Kudrivka have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ermir Rashica. The answer from Metalist has not changed — yet.
Squad6 Mar 2028
59 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Lytvynenko, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match20 Nov 2027
Still nobody has beaten Metalist
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad22 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Metalist this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Metalist needed to.
Squad22 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Braian Álvarez
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match20 Nov 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Shakhtar leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.