Shakhtar Donetsk is in a bigger than high position to face the bizarre stage of a closed-door Europa League semi-final as Ukrainian champions continue to thrive even if they haven’t played in their hometown for six years.
Uprooted by a war in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russian-backed separatists, the Shakhtar was forced to move.
First in Lviv, 1,200 kilometers from our house, and for 3 years in Kharkiv, just 300 kilometers from its Donbass Arena in Donetsk.
Shakhtar continued to succeed despite a six-year exile from his hometown of Donetsk Photo: POOL / WOLFGANG RATTAY
When it opened in 2009, the 52,000-seat stadium hosted a Euro 2012 semi-final and was intended to be an ideal venue for an emerging European football power.
Shakhtar is the moment when the Ukrainian club won a European trophy by lifting the UEFA Cup a few months earlier and has dismissed their rival Dynamo Kiev as the dominant force of the country with 10 league titles in the last thirteen years.
Instead, the Dombass is now deserted and shattered for bombing the conflict.
Taison (centre) aims to culminate his long career at Shakhtar by winning the Europa League Photo: POOL / WOLFGANG RATTAY
However, despite the turmoil and declining fan base in Donetsk, many others feel abandoned by the club that was once a source of wonderful local pride, on the ground, shakhtar continued to thrive.
Next season will be the fourteenth in 17 years that will participate in the stages of organization of the Champions League, while in the UEFA valuation coefficient for the functionality of all European clubs for the more than 10 years, it will occupy the 16th position as striker Tottenham, Ajax and on Monday. Europa League semi-final rivals Inter Milan.
Funded through billionaire owner Rinat Akhmetov, Shakhtar’s good fortune is based on a long-term movement policy that buys the ability of the Next Brazilian and sells them at the best price, while eliminating the most productive players from their rivals in Ukraine.
Fernandinho, Willian, Douglas Costa and Fred are among those who called for themselves in European football in Ukraine before being sold for around $200 million across Europe.
The Dombass Arena of Shakhtar Donetsk is deserted in the war-torn region of Ukraine. Photo: AFP / Franck FIFE
Mining in Akhmetov has been affected by war, which has reduced investment, but the formula remains the same.
The existing team consists of 12 Brazilians, adding the nationalized strikers Junior Moraes and Marlos. Yevhen Konoplyanka returned to his local country after his time in Seville and Schalke and is one of the many Ukrainian internationals.
Portuguese coach Luis Castro resumed where his compatriot Paulo Fonseca left him when he took over as coach of Roma at the start of the season.
After narrowly losing a spot in the champions league quarter-final, Benfica, Wolfsburg and Basel have been defeated by Shakhtar’s foul attack since his Europa League debut.
“Since the start of the season, we have not suffered any defeats outside Ukraine, either in the Champions League or in the Europa League,” Castro said of a team accustomed to living away from home.
“If you paint as hard as my players, if you have the courage of my boys, then they don’t care about any games in any stadium.”
One of Shakhtar’s Brazilian contingents, Taison, has been at the club since 2013 and believes that leaving a legacy by winning the Europa League is even more so for those who have experienced the ups and downs of recent seasons.
“Especially for those of us who have been at the club for so long, we had this dream in mind of succeeding in the final,” Taison told UEFA.com
“We knew that when we reached the quarter-finals or semi-finals we were going to face teams, but we had that in mind, even when we faced Inter, to reach the final.
“We have to go down in the club’s history, and for that we have to lift trophies like the Europa League.”