Their lives have been turned upside down by the Russian invasion, their internship in Turkey shaken by the earthquake: the players of Shakhtar Donetsk have “looking forward to being on the fieldThursday in the Europa League play-off against Rennes, striker Oleksandr Zubkov told AFP.
Almost a year ago, the Russian invasion of Ukraine caused shock and panic within the team and throughout the country. With an air of déjà vu for Shakhar Donetsk, already dislodged from its lands by the Donbass war in 2014.
Passed through Lviv, then Kharkiv and settled in kyiv since 2020, the club, owned by billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, has entered a new phase of uncertainty.
«This is the second time they want to kick me out of my home, first the Donetsk region and now the whole country, it’s unbelievable“Says Zubkov, a 26-year-old international winger.
Born in the Donetsk region, trained at Shakhtar and loaned to Mariupol, one of the martyr cities of the war, he played last season at Ferencvaros in Budapest and chose to return to Shakhtar in the summer.
It was above alla sporty choice“, he explains. After a successful first season in Hungary, he was struggling following the arrival of a new coach. “I chose football and I’m very happy about it».
Despite the departure of most of its foreign players, a very clear rejuvenation of the workforce and difficult trips to alternate championship in Ukraine and Champions League matches still abroad, Shakhtar has done well.
Zubkov himself scored two goals against Real Madrid, including a superb acrobatic scissor kick at the Bernabeu.
«It was at the end of the first period, they were in a hurry, we spent our time chasing the ball (…). I didn’t even realize at the time that I had scored a good goal“, he says.
But since November, the Ukrainian championship has been stopped, like every winter. Accustomed to European competitions, Shakhtar is also used to covering important European matches, which have rarely succeeded in the past.
This year, the team prepared for almost a month in Belek, on the southern coast of Turkey, where the players felt the earthquake which wreaked havoc 500 km further east last week. last.
«I woke up at 4am, I felt something strangeZubkov says. “It was a first time for me. I wasn’t scared but it wasn’t a nice feeling».
“A Little Light”
Oleksandr Zubkov
From now on, the team is in Warsaw for a last internship. “I am very excited. We are all in good shape, physically ready. We can’t wait to be on the field».
We will have to do without Mykhailo Mudryk, author of 18 goals in as many matches at the start of the season, who left for Chelsea in January for 70 million euros (and 30 million in possible bonuses), of which nearly 25 million will go to aid for Ukrainian soldiers and their relatives.
«Of course we miss him because he has a lot of talent and allowed us a lot of movement. But Shakhtar is a team where when a player leaves, someone comes forward to take his place. We have seen many examples», assure Zubkov.
He himself feels an increased pressure. “But I love this. Pressure is part of football and it makes me stronger».
And like Dynamo kyiv, whom Rennes faced in the group stage, he knows he can count on the support of all Ukrainians, not just Shakhtar supporters: “in such hard times for our country, this match could be a little ray of light».