2018 Ukrainian Cup final

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.

Road to Dnipro
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).

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 has 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. However, with the victory in the Cup, Dynamo also was be 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. 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. Another Ukraine international and Dynamo player Ruslan Rotan stated that Dynamo play with two ex-Dniprians: Denys Boiko and him. Nonetheless, Dnipro fans was be 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 be 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. 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.

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. 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. 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. 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.