Ukrainian war, Lucescu: “So we escaped from hell in Kiev”

On the forty-third anniversary of his first time on the bench, Mircea Lucescu does not receive the gift but does. After having saved himself from the war in Ukraine with an interminable journey, the 76-year-old Dinamo Kiev coach immediately set off to facilitate the escape of foreign players from the capital attacked by the Russians.

We reach him on the phone in his Bucharest, he is tired but not enough: “But now we need to do something for the Ukrainian boys. They cannot leave the country, they have families and small children … “. And he tells us his story about him: “We came from a retreat towards the championship that was about to start again, we went to Spain and Antalya with almost all the Ukrainian teams, a kind of mini league. Then we went back, on Thursday evening we trained for the Cup match and then what we never expected could happen … “

How did the war come to Kiev?

“At a certain point I wake up in the night and the first thought that comes to me is summer, do you know those summer storms full of lightning and very strong thunder? But no, unfortunately no. They tell us that the war has begun, and that it has reached the gates of the city ”.

“No, nobody expected it. It was thought that there would be at most some skirmish in the Donbass, no one believed in an invasion like the one we have seen ”.

What did the authorities tell you?

“Which obviously isn’t played anymore, that we had to wait. And I waited, for a day. In the meantime, I had my own embassy pressing me to leave Ukraine. So I talked to my president, I reassured the players, we made sure that their families were safe too. Then my staff and I got going ”.

“Seventeen hard hours, between customs and checkpoints. To get out of the city we drove at seven per hour, the streets were clogged with the cars of those who ran away. Outside Kiev we started to take secondary roads, while on the road we met the convoys of soldiers heading south because in the meantime the bombing from the Black Sea had begun. So we arrived at the border with Moldova, where there were endless queues. And there I saw ugly scenes, of men accompanying women and children to the border, making sure they passed and then coming back. There you really realize the drama of the war. Because we had only heard those whom I had mistaken for thunder, those people did not ”.

What did he do when he arrived in Bucharest?

“I spoke to Razvan Burleanu, the president of the Romanian football federation, and we were interested in facilitating the exit of other foreign players, not just those of Dinamo. Especially the South Americans, who we got here and then leave again. I followed their journey step by step, with Junior Moraes, the Shakhtar forward, who led the group. I thank him for the strength he has shown ”.

Who else is there to thank?

“Ceferin and the presidents of the federations of Ukraine, Moldova and Romania. I was morally obliged to be close to those kids, they weren’t. But now we have to look forward. If the war continues, I hope UEFA will give the players the opportunity to free themselves, or at least go on loan to finish the season. We are talking about young boys with families, they have to keep playing because football is their job. And it has enormous power … “

“Without football the world is tougher. Have you seen what happened with the pandemic? Theaters, cinemas and other forms of entertainment were at a standstill and football no, it kept people’s interest awake even without an audience and with great difficulty. And as soon as the stadiums reopened, people came back right away. Do you understand what its strength is? It is a good that must be preserved “.

To ensure that football continues, there is also talk of neighboring countries willing to host the Ukrainian championship. Do you know anything about it?

“Yes, it is a proposal on the table. Romania is willing, Poland and Hungary too, I know Ceferin is thinking about it, if you want it won’t be difficult to organize “

You have been coaching in Ukraine since 2004, it is a bit like your second homeland, you have also experienced the previous conflict in the Donbass: how do those people feel now?

“Like that of a land of conquest, it is their story. Now the Russians invade it, before over the centuries the Poles, the Mongols, the Tartars, the Germanic peoples have done it … They have never managed to form a strong and independent state, and now that they have done so, here comes the ‘invasion. Precisely this, however, contributed to making them extremely proud of their being Ukrainians ”.

Indeed, many did not expect such a resistance.

“Exactly: I am a new, enthusiastic state, who proudly use their own language, something that did not happen before. They consider themselves the cradle of Eastern Europe, from culture to religion, and it is not a people who will easily accept to be conquered ”.

How do you imagine it ends?

“I hope that a political agreement will be reached, and above all that we realize the first necessity: not to let other people die. I repeat: no one expected such a tragedy, the Ukrainians listened to Putin and thought they were verbal skirmishes, threats. History will always tell us this story as that of a brother country that attacks another, it is an incredible wound. When they open their eyes to the damage they are doing, perhaps they will stop. Now let’s think about peace, then we’ll also think about football “.