Today five teams will enter the main Champions League tournament. Doneck's "Shakhtar" club has good chances to qualify there - after the first away game against Vienna's "Rapid", the Ukrainians have a 1-0 advantage. We invite you to get to know this club more closely.
Team without a home
The "Shakhtar" club is currently going through very difficult times, but they are not to blame for it. The Doneck club experienced a period of prosperity when the neighboring Russian aggression shook Eastern Ukraine. Life there - including football - changed forever.
The football team of Eastern Ukraine was forced to move out of their own city. Now they play in Lviv, and when they can return home - after five, ten, twenty years or never - it is impossible to say.
However, despite this, "Shakhtar" maintains a strong team. The "miners" strategy remains the same - the team of legionnaires is sought in Brazil. Now there are 8 Brazilians playing here, and also a naturalized Croatian, Eduardo, who hails from Brazil.
"Shakhtar" felt their power by nurturing ambitious plans for this season and attracting bright stars like "Fenerbahce". In the third Champions League qualifying round, the Turks practically had no chances - after a draw in Istanbul, the game in Lviv was "one-way traffic" - "Shakhtar" won 3-0.
Hopeless followers
We can say that political events do not influence football players, but that would be a primitive view.
"If people didn't die every day, then we could concentrate on football." - said "Shakhtar" goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov a few months ago.
"Sometimes we go to play having just heard the news of how people died in a bus ambush. We think about it. It affects us, even if we try to hide everything."
In such cases, the most rational decision for players would be to flee the war-torn zone. Especially when it comes to Brazilians. However, this path is acceptable to not everyone. Over the years, Donetsk has become home for the legionnaires.
"A new challenge would be very exciting, but it is even more exciting - to stay in Ukraine, in the club that I love." - earlier this year, former "Shakhtar" forward Luiz Adriano said.
He, just like another "Shakhtar" star from Brazil, Douglas Costa, left Ukraine this summer. But they left not because of the tense situation, but because elite European clubs invited them to join their ranks. Rejecting specific offers from "Bayern" or "Milan" is very difficult for any player.
"We need to play football and distract people from politics and war. Our task is to play and give people hope and positive emotions." - added A. Pyatov.
Club symbols
During the war, there are two people who probably didn't think for a second about leaving "Shakhtar". They are coach Mircea Lucescu and captain Darijo Srna.
Since 2004, the team has been led by the Romanian, who is a true club legend. M. Lucescu led "Shakhtar" to 8 out of 9 Ukrainian championship titles. In other words, there is no coach in "Shakhtar" history who could even try to compete with M. Lucescu with his achievements.
On his 70th birthday, the club erected a statue in front of the Donbass Arena in Donetsk in honor of M. Lucescu.
The statue is no less deserved by the club captain D. Srna. For many years considered one of the best right-back defenders and penalty specialists in Europe, the Croatian had many opportunities to move to elite European leagues. However, he was not interested in them.
"The day the war ends, we will return to Donetsk and kiss the city streets." - D. Srna described his feelings for the city.
How will they line up?
"Shakhtar" usually uses a 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 formation. Essentially, we can be sure that in today's match against "Rapid" they will try to dominate from the start, regardless of the positive result they brought back from Vienna and the fact that they don't need any goals.
Recently, the brightest star of the team has become the midfielder Fred. Despite his modest build, this player can fight powerfully in the midfield. Aside from that, he makes excellent passes, has good dribbling skills, and performs excellent raids both in the middle and on the sides. The only criticism for him - for now, is his poor finishing of opportunities.
Another star from Brazil, Alex Teixeira, does not have similar problems. He may not be the hardest worker when the team doesn't have the ball, but he possesses similar attacking qualities as Fred, but he excels at finishing opportunities.
Last season, he scored 17 goals in 22 league matches, and this year he also does not plan to stop - he already has 5 accurate shots in as many matches. Additionally, he also scored a goal in the Champions League.
The probable lineup for "Shakhtar" in the match against "Rapid".
Other Eurofootball.com articles about Champions League teams:
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