Leipzig’s first opponent, Shakhtar Donetsk, has been a club on the run from war since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. The face of the club has changed radically of late – home games have long since ceased.
Before everything changed in 2014, Shakhtar Donetsk played in the Donbass Arena and gave themselves an international image in the years before. For example, when the Ukrainians met Bayer Leverkusen, among others, in the group stage of the Champions League in 2013/14 and were narrowly eliminated in third place, there were eight Brazilians in the CL squad.
The success proved the club right at the time: Before the start of the Donbass war in 2014, Shakhtar had been champions five times in a row from 2010, and four times since then. Of course, this did not go unnoticed by the scouts of the top international clubs. Douglas Costa, for example, moved to Bayern Munich in 2015 for 30 million euros, Fred to Manchester United in 2018 for 60 million euros.
“The stadium has become home to four fox families “
Today, that glamour is lost in Donetsk and has given way to dreariness. The stadium, which was only inaugurated in 2009, is falling into disrepair. Former Shakhtar professional Oleksiy Bakharev, who died in March, had already caused a stir in 2019 with a description of the state of the Donbass Arena: “The stadium has become the home of four fox families. They are digging their den there. “
For the club, the odyssey initially started in Lviv, to the west, where home matches were played until the end of 2016. Although the 13-time Ukrainian champions won 28 of 35 league games there, the club decided to move back east, to Kharkiv. The main reason for this was that Shakhtar had been antagonised by the ultras of FC Karpaty Lviv, who historically tend to be more loyal to Dynamo Kyiv. The Karpaty ultras did not want to hear about the fact that Shakhtar had saved the arena in Lviv from bankruptcy with the additional income from its matches.
Leipzig, Real and Celtic have to go to Warsaw
So in 2017, we again travelled about a thousand kilometres east to Kharkiv, which is only 300 kilometres away from Donetsk. In the Metalist sports complex, Manchester City, among others, conceded a 1-2 defeat in the Champions League. Now the war is forcing another move for the top flight. Poland’s capital Warsaw is to be the new “home”. The games in the national league, which has just started, will be played in Kiev. Logistically, all this means an immense challenge for the team – not to mention the travel hassle. At least club owner Rinat Akhmetov made his private Boeing 737 available so that the many kilometres could be covered as comfortably as possible.
Why the team now plays its “home games” in Warsaw, of all places, is obvious and not only for logistical reasons. “I think this is the best possible solution for us. It is very close to Ukraine, and besides, many Ukrainians live in Warsaw,” said commercial director Dmitry Kirilenko and also hopes for Legia’s fans: “We knew that Legia has a large number of fans. As far as I know, about 9,000 fans have season tickets. There is an incredible atmosphere at the games.” The contract also states that the stands will be opened for Legia fans.
Ukrainians set the tone in the team again
Sportingly, the team is hard to rate at the moment and is made up of many graduates of the club’s academy who only remember the Donbass Arena from their days as ball boys. In July, midfielder Neven Djurasek joined the team – as did new coach Igor Jovicevic from Croatia. In attack, Lassina Traoré from Burkina Faso, who came from Ajax Amsterdam last summer, is the new striker. A Brazilian cannot be missing after all: Lucas Taylor holds up the flag for the South Americans.
Shakhtar sees its appearance in the top flight as a national task anyway, given the war Russia is waging against Ukraine. “We will show the whole world that we are still alive and will fight for Ukraine on the pitch,” said sporting director Darijo Srna, promising, “We will not let Ukraine down. “
At least from a purely sporting point of view, advancing is likely to be a mammoth task. In addition to Leipzig, Real Madrid and Celtic Glasgow are the opponents in the coming weeks.
