Shakhtar Donetsk exit Champions League, but resilience makes them winners

WARSAW, Poland -- "We wanted to deed the jackpot, but it was not to be," Shakhtar Donetsk manager Igor Jovicevic said aft RB Leipzig's 4-0 triumph successful Warsaw denied the Ukrainian squad a spot successful the Champions League knockout stages.

"It is unreal what we person had to do. We train, past deliberation astir shelters and bunkers, our troops warring for us. And past we person to deliberation astir Leipzig."

It is simply a 930-mile travel from Donetsk to Warsaw, but it is simply a roadworthy little travelled successful specified bleak times that guarantee Shakhtar indispensable play their Champions League location games successful the Polish capital. That Shakhtar are adjacent capable to execute successful football's biggest nine contention is singular considering the ravages of struggle against Russian invaders successful Ukraine, but to past flooded the unthinkable difficulties they brushwood connected a regular ground to look RB Leipzig connected matchday six -- and with a accidental of qualifying for the circular of 16 -- is simply a testament to the singular determination and resoluteness of a squad that has been stateless for the past 8 years.

In a sporting sense, Shakhtar embody the disruption and displacement of the Ukrainian colonisation since Russia's penetration successful February near the state warring for its existence, a combat which continues to this day.

As galore arsenic 8 cardinal Ukrainians near the country successful the weeks aft the outbreak of war, with 5.5 cardinal fleeing implicit the occidental borderline to Poland. There are inactive 1.3 cardinal Ukrainians successful Poland, truthful erstwhile Shakhtar play successful the Champions League successful Warsaw, they are a touchstone for those who person acceptable up a impermanent location successful a caller country, waiting to spell home. Just similar Shakhtar, who mislaid 15 first-team players erstwhile warfare broke out, forcing the nine to regenerate them with untested youngsters.

"I americium from Kharkiv and Metallist is my team, but I cheer for Shakhtar due to the fact that they are showing Ukraine to the world," Daria, who has been successful Warsaw since March, told ESPN.

Another radical from Lviv, conscionable implicit the borderline successful Ukraine, made the travel to Poland together, the 4 of them hopeless to spot Shakhtar bushed RB Leipzig to assertion 2nd spot successful Group F and a spot successful the circular of 16. "Shakhtar is our team, we had to come," Maxim said.

In the end, Jovicevic's young squad were incapable to repetition their 4-1 triumph against Leipzig successful Germany connected matchday one. The Bundesliga broadside were excessively beardown and excessively fit, winning 4-0 successful Warsaw, but the Ukrainian squad stay live successful European competition, with their third-place decorativeness ensuring a spot successful the Europa League play-off circular successful February alongside Barcelona, Ajax and perchance Manchester United.

"I said 'heads up' to the players aft the game," Jovicevic said. "We concluded six games, we mislaid [here], but we did our champion successful this moment. We person had an astonishing obstacle successful beforehand of us. We bushed Leipzig once, to bushed them doubly we would beryllium similar the champions of the world. So I don't licence that we beryllium upset. It is astonishing to beryllium successful Europa League. Barcelona, Ajax play successful it. Atletico Madrid don't, but we will. So we indispensable look forward: heads up.

"Our situation was to marque the intolerable possible. To marque specified success, you indispensable person players with personality, but they summation this each time -- it's astonishing for maine to spot however they turn each day."

But for a 95th-minute Real Madrid equaliser successful a 1-1 gully successful Warsaw past period and Danylo Sikan's open-goal miss successful different 1-1 gully against Celtic past week, it could person been a antithetic story. Fine margins, yes, but Shakhtar's occurrence is simply being present to combat for the impossible.

Shakhtar Donetsk person not played successful Donetsk since April 2014. A struggle betwixt Ukraine and the Russian-backed separatist question successful the Donbas and Luhansk regions of the state erupted successful March of that year, and it remained a struggle portion until the full-scale Russian penetration of Ukraine in February of this year. For the past 8 years, Shakhtar person led a nomadic beingness arsenic a result, playing location games successful Lviv (750 miles away), Kharkiv (190 miles) and Kyiv (450 miles).

Their location stadium, the Donbass Arena, was built astatine a outgo of $400 cardinal successful 2009 by Shakhtar's owner, the Ukrainian mining billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, and hosted 4 games astatine Euro 2012, including the semifinal betwixt Portugal and Spain. It was rated arsenic a Category Four stadium by UEFA -- the highest imaginable ranking -- but has been abandoned since 2014.

"The stadium is inactive successful bully shape, considering the struggle successful Donetsk," Shakhtar authoritative Yuri Shrivdov told ESPN. "But it has an underground car park, truthful the crushed we judge it has avoided excessively overmuch harm is due to the fact that it's being utilized by the Russians to store their weapons."

Donetsk is present astatine the bosom of the struggle successful the Donbas region, a metropolis that was placed nether martial law by Russian president Vladimir Putin past period aft what occidental governments described arsenic the "illegal annexation" of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. The metropolis is mostly successful ruins and overmuch of its pre-war colonisation of 920,000 has sought refuge successful occidental Ukraine oregon countries specified arsenic Poland, Moldova and Romania. But the sanction of Donetsk is inactive represented by Shakhtar successful the Champions League, and for squad skipper Taras Stepanenko, it is captious that they support the sanction of the metropolis alive.

"The sanction of our squad is Shakhtar Donetsk and we correspond our metropolis and our region," Stepanenko told ESPN successful an interrogation astatine the team's edifice successful Warsaw. "We person done this since 2014, but present we correspond each of Ukraine due to the fact that lone 1 squad is playing astatine the precocious level successful Europe and that is Shakhtar.

"We person had bully results -- everybody knows that Shakhtar and Ukraine has bully players -- but it besides sends a connection to different countries astir our concern and that they inactive request to assistance support america from the Russian Federation."

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Stepanenko, 33, has been with Shakhtar since 2010. He was calved and raised successful the Donbas portion and hasn't been location for 8 years. He speaks bully English and is simply a thoughtful man, not prone to affectional oregon aggravated rhetoric, but the socks helium is wearing for our interrogation springiness a wide denotation arsenic to his views connected the Russian invasion. They carnivore the drafting of a manus with a raised mediate digit and the words, successful Ukrainian, that construe arsenic "Russian warship, Go f--- yourself," which was the past connection of Ukrainian borderline guards during a Russian onslaught connected Snake Island successful the Black Sea successful February.

"My village, Velyka Novosilka [to the south-west of Donetsk], is present astir wholly destroyed," Stepanenko said. "My parents moved to Zaporizhzhia, but they had to permission determination besides due to the fact that it became excessively dangerous, conscionable 40 miles from the beforehand line.

"The Russians, I don't cognize what they privation to prove, were ever launching rockets into buildings, into energy stations, truthful I moved each of my household to Kyiv. But it is simply a akin concern there. This week, 2 oregon 3 rocket strikes adjacent my house, nary h2o oregon energy for 2 days. But this is the communicative of our times."

Despite the struggle successful Ukraine, the 2022-23 Ukrainian Premier League began successful August. All games are being staged down closed doors astatine stadiums successful the westbound of the country. Shakhtar are playing their "home" games successful Lviv and Kyiv, but some cities person been hit by Russian rocket strikes in caller weeks; football, conscionable similar day-to-day beingness successful Ukraine, continues nether the changeless menace of attack. During Shakhtar's 2-2 gully against FC Oleksandriya successful Lviv connected Saturday, some teams were forced to walk an hr and 40 minutes sheltering wrong the stadium aft an aerial raid siren forced the impermanent suspension of the game.

"It was the archetypal clip we went to the basement due to the fact that of an aerial raid," Stepanenko said. "It was strange: we are footballers, we conscionable deliberation astir football, truthful we weren't reasoning astir an attack. We were 1-0 down successful the game, truthful we conscionable spoke astir however to alteration the result. It was similar 'we person to triumph this game,' truthful cipher thought astir the unsafe situation."

Shakhtar's squad arrived successful Warsaw connected Sunday evening. SkyUp Airlines formation 1605, which carries the Shakhtar badge and colours arsenic its livery, had made the 40-minute formation from the Polish metropolis of Rzeszow. Prior to that, the squad autobus had driven Igor Jovicevic's players the 110 miles from Lviv owed to Ukrainian aerial abstraction being closed arsenic a effect of the conflict.

With hard roads to negociate and borderline checks -- Shakhtar players indispensable instrumentality their spot successful the queues similar each different national -- a 250-mile travel betwixt Lviv and Warsaw that would instrumentality little than 50 minutes successful mean times tin present instrumentality up to 10 hours. Every roadworthy travel successful Ukraine is precisely that -- done connected a autobus betwixt Kyiv and Lviv -- but erstwhile they play successful the Champions League, it is the aforesaid arduous travel to Poland and past a formation to wherever the gully takes them.

This season, Shakhtar person travelled to Madrid, Glasgow and Leipzig for radical games against Real, Celtic and RB Leipzig, portion playing each of their location games astatine Legia Warsaw's Marshall Jozef Pilsudski Stadium. There person been nary casual rides.

"Psychologically, it tin destruct you," manager Jovicevic told ESPN. "After the crippled against Leipzig, we person a 10-hour travel home.

"For different teams, it is rest, they tin spell to the jacuzzi, person a massage, spell to the barbecue with their family. No different squad successful Europe has to bash it similar us, we are travelling each the time, truthful determination is simply a existent accumulation of intelligence and carnal fatigue. But it is each relative. We are playing Champions League and each of my players person been acceptable to combat each game, whether to proceed successful the Champions League oregon spell to the Europa. Both are astonishing achievements."

Monday and Tuesday were uncommon remainder days for Jovicevic and his players. They trained astatine Legia's facility, but determination was nary agelong travel to interest about, conscionable the accidental to unbend and bask the bid of the team's basal astatine Warsaw's Regent Hotel. It was the benignant of tedium and normality that tin often beryllium the bane of a footballer's life, but with his state inactive warring for its existence, Stepanenko admits helium nary longer worries astir the "ordinary" things a subordinate would often deliberation about.

"For the guys, it's like, 'look, the concern astatine location is worse,'" helium said. "So we are blessed to travel. I astir apt utilized to instrumentality possibly 100 flights a year, to and from Kyiv, to location games, to Champions League games. Now we person to instrumentality the level and the autobus and we usually request 9-10 hours to get a European city. It's a small spot hard and it's a caller acquisition for me.

"As a footballer, you should deliberation astir your fittingness and your recovery, truthful determination are times erstwhile you person to beryllium mentally beardown due to the fact that it's hard to support this situation. But it's present normal. It's our life.

We cognize a batch of radical successful Ukraine are successful the worst situations. We don't kick and I haven't heard thing of the guys complaining astir the situation. No, we are present and it's our work for Donetsk, for our country. And we support warring for that."

What happens next? Shakhtar volition proceed to alert the emblem for Ukraine and stay a awesome of Donetsk successful the Europa League erstwhile the competitions resumes successful February. The adjacent circular volition coincide with the archetypal day of the Russian invasion, and the symbolism of Shakhtar representing Ukraine among European football's elite, 1 twelvemonth on, isn't mislaid connected Stepanenko.

"Of course, it is important for america to beryllium capable to play successful Europe adjacent February," helium said. "It volition amusement our defiance, our spirit.

"I talk with friends successful the subject 2 oregon 3 times a week, and they privation america to play, to win, to bash it for each of the regions successful Ukraine. We aren't warring the warfare for our citizens, but we tin play shot and we are trying to beryllium their awesome successful what is an awful, terrible, unbelievable situation."

There is simply a content wrong the club, possibly a naive one, that Shakhtar volition instrumentality to Donetsk successful the aboriginal and play erstwhile again astatine the Donbass Arena. "Maybe not soon, but I judge we volition spell backmost to Donetsk," Shrivdov said. "We are proceeding astir our troops making progress, truthful the adjacent year, we volition see. We volition beryllium back."

Stepanenko is besides refusing to wantonness his imagination of playing connected Shakhtar's location turf again. While helium and his household present respect Kyiv arsenic home, Donetsk is wherever their roots remain. "Ukraine's spot is the unity of its people; we are each unneurotic against this aggression and that's wherefore I judge we volition win, 100 percent," helium said.

"And erstwhile we do, it is my biggest imagination to spell backmost to the arena and play. I person thought astir it since we moved from Donetsk. Maybe I won't beryllium a footballer anymore erstwhile we spell back, but I volition play arsenic a veteran, arsenic an aged man.

"The nine tin organise a foundation match, invitation each the legends, and we tin fulfil our dream. But I americium assured it volition happen."

That is simply a imagination for the future, but first, determination is simply a formation backmost to Rzeszow and past a autobus thrust to Lviv, different 10-hour journey, Shakhtar acceptable to bash it each again erstwhile the Europa League comes around.