It seems that the current "Shakhtar" is indeed in a playing crisis. The third defeat in the last four matches cannot be regarded as anything other than a failure. How long the way out of the nosedive of Mircea Lucescu's team will be is currently unknown.

As for the game with "Tavriya," it unfolded terribly for the miners. Already in the fourth minute of the match, the defenders missed Gigiadze going one-on-one with Lashtuvka, who opened the scoring in the match with an accurate shot.

The miners also had chances to equalize in the first half of the match. However, Vorobey's shot into the top corner was parried by the goalkeeper, and long-range shots by Tymoshchuk and Matuzalem lacked accuracy.

The start of the second half began with measured attacks by the guests, and already in the 49th minute Bielik won the struggle for a high ball, which bounced to Agahowa, who scored into an already empty goal – 1:1. Having equalized, the Donetsk players continued to "hang" around "Tavriya's" goal. Vukić's shot in the 60th minute into the upper corner of the goal was parried by Velychko, and Matuzalem's follow-up attempt to score was interrupted by a defender of the Crimean team, who cleared the ball off the goal line.

Five minutes before the end of the match, the players of both teams had a whole series of chances to score. Vukić's shot into an empty goal was blocked by a defender, and Poltavets' one-on-one with Lashtuvka ended with the Czech goalkeeper deflecting the ball onto a corner with only his fingertips. Then Vukić again had to score, but his shot from about 22 meters hit the post. "Tavriya's" counterattack became a knockout blow for "Shakhtar." In the 87th minute, Gigiadze burst into the guests' penalty area and, with a shot into the far corner of the goal, put his team ahead. "Shakhtar" no longer had enough time or strength to bring the match to a draw...

The match in Kyiv between "Dynamo" and "Arsenal" does not claim derby status at all, primarily in terms of the quality of its play. The "Canonniers" tried not to concede in this match, while "Dynamo," in whose lineup the "reserves" Belkevych, Husin, Leko, Peiev and Shatskikh came out, simply could not find a way to the "guests'" goal. Throughout the first half, the safest moment could be considered Ostrovsky's header... toward his own goal, which Bairamovsky deflected onto a corner in a jump.

In the second half of the match, mostly thanks to the introduction of Kleber and Verpakovskis, the play became livelier and there were more chances near both teams' goals. Leko wasted two chances to score. The Croatian first failed to capitalize on a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and on another occasion his shot from 12 meters went just wide of the post. And if "Dynamo" did not use its chance to score, then "Arsenal" created a goal practically out of nothing. An error by the central defenders led to Babych putting Okoduwa through one-on-one with Reva with an accurate pass, and he beat the "Dynamo" goalkeeper, who had come out of his goal somewhat carelessly, with an accurate shot from the corner of the penalty area – 1:0. "Dynamo" managed to save the game seven minutes before the end of the match. From a free kick about 21 meters out, Belkevych hit the corner of "Arsenal's" goal with a not powerful but skillful shot – 1:1. The goalkeeper at that moment did not even have time to react to that shot. True, Yozhef Sabo's team did not manage to snatch victory and catch up with "Shakhtar," although, given the miners' defeat, a draw was not the worst result for the Kyivans, since in the game with the "Canonniers" they could well have lost altogether.

Of the other matches of the 12th round, it is worth noting another loss of points by "Dnipro," which failed to beat "Borysfen" in Dnipropetrovsk. Lutsk's "Volyn" is gaining momentum, and after a 4:1 victory over "Metalist" it consolidated itself in fourth place.

"Tavriya" - "Shakhtar" - 2:1 Goals: Gigiadze 4, 88, Agahowa 49 "Tavriya": Velychko, Chyzhevsky, Khramtsov, Korniev, Ponomarenko (Holaido 58), Zarutsky, Edmar, Junior (Pirvu 56), Stepanov, Smirnov (Poltavets 77), Gigiadze "Shakhtar": Lashtuvka, Stoican, Lewandowski, Tymoshchuk (Srna 60), Matuzalem, Hübschman, Floria, Duljaj, Vorobey (Bielik 46), Agahowa, Marica (Vukić 46)

"Dynamo" - "Arsenal" - 1:1 Goals: Belkevych 83, Okoduwa 72 "Dynamo": Reva, Nesmachny, Rodolfo, Fedorov, Dmytrulin (Husiev 70), Leko, Belkevych, Peiev (Verpakovskis 54), Husin, Chernat (Kleber 54), Shatskikh "Arsenal": Bairamovsky, Bunevchevych, Pershyn, Rozghon (Omelianchuk 61), Anikeiev, Ostrovsky, Mizin, Kostiuk (Kovalchyk 63), Okoduwa, Ibanga, Babych (Skoba 75)

"Volyn" - "Metalist" - 4:2 Goals: Dzhudovych 16, Mitić 24, Tryshevych 55, Hashchyn 78 - from a penalty, Hladky 47, Seleznov 90 - from a penalty.

"Metalurh" D - "Vorskla-Naftohaz" - 2:0 Goals: Mendoza 59, Zotov 90

"Dnipro" - "Borysfen" - 0:0 "Dnipro": Kernozenko, Hrytsai (Mykhailenko 80), Yezersky, Shelaev, Melashchenko (Andriienko 46), Kostyshyn, Venhlinsky, Rusol, Rykun, Semochko (Kravchenko 68), Nazarenko "Borysfen": Babak, Koteliukh, Kovaliuk, Honchar, Khomyn, Dmytruk (Trusevych 66), Melnyk, Bredun, Cherny, Karamushka, Derkach (Khramtsov 82, Lytovchak 90)

"Chornomorets" - "Metalurh" Z - 1:0 Goal: Kosyrin 37 - from a penalty

"Illichivets" - "Obolon" - 1:1 Goals: Zubov 28, Kariaka 62

"Zakarpattia" - "Kryvbas" - 1:1 Goals: Sheveliukhin 35, Popovych 64.