Shakhtar Donetsk has not been able to play in its own stadium since 2014. On Tuesday, the Ukrainian team will play in Leipzig for the first time since the Russian attack in the Champions League.
Donetsk is far away. The memories are present in hearts and minds – but the “Futbolnyj klub Shakhtar Donetsk” has not been on the pitch in his home country for a long time.
“We always play away,” said coach Igor Jovicevic. The Ukrainian top club made a stop in Germany on Tuesday evening.
At Bundesliga club RB Leipzig (9 p.m. / DAZN) there is a duel with special emotionality: For the first time since the Russian invasion, a team from the war-torn country competed in the Champions League.
For Shakhtar, the miners’ club on the border with Russia, it was a small piece of normality, if it can be called at all. “Our team hasn’t played at home since 2014,” said Jovicevic.
Shakhtar Donetsk home games are played in Warsaw
The Donetsk region in the east of the country is heavily contested. Pro-Russian separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces there for eight years. The futuristic Donbass Arena, which was built for the EM 2012, was also damaged in the course of the clashes.
Shakhtar needed a new home and found temporary refuge in Lviv, Kharkiv and finally Kyiv. Donetsk has to go abroad for the premier class, the home games take place in Warsaw.
At the start of the group phase, the trip to Leipzig was scheduled. The embassy to Ukraine was more important than the result.
“We have a responsibility, for our country and our club. It’s important for our compatriots that we fight on the pitch, just like our people on the front line,” said Croatian coach Jovicevic: “It’s important that we focus on on the international stage.”
The club, which has been tried and tested in the Champions League, has to cope with a major change in personnel. Donetsk, which has always had a large Brazilian block in the squad in the past, lost right winger David Neres (Benfica), full-back Dodo (Florence), midfielder Marcos Antonio (Lazio) and attacker Fernando (RB Salzburg) in the summer.
Football has been played again in Ukraine since the end of August
Forward Lassina Traore from Burkina Faso is one of the few remaining legionnaires. The international experience of many of the young Ukrainian players is manageable.
How strong Donetsk is cannot really be seen from the good start to the league. Football has been played again in Ukraine since the end of August.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyj is said to have personally ordered football to provide a little distraction six months after the start of the Russian war of aggression and one day before the 31st Ukrainian Independence Day.
Donetsk went unbeaten in three games and is fourth in the Premier League with seven points. Leipzig is a different hurdle. Donetsk can still rely on the other kind of help from the Saxons.
RB supports the Ukraine aid with a cup deposit campaign. All proceeds benefit the “Pitch In For Ukraine” initiative supported by the guests.