The country is at war and all sports events are suspended. After the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine broke out, the bombardment started in a couple of cities and all aerial traffic is closed. Kyiv skies are full of Russian helicopters which seized Gostomel airbase. People are trying to get out of the city, but some of them just don’t have anywhere to go, as they are foreigners. Among them are three football coaches, who have one thing in common – they are, or used to be managers of the famous Shakhtar Donetsk. 🇺🇦 | Paulo Fonseca is currently stranded in Ukraine:“I woke up at 5am to five explosions. I had a flight scheduled for today but now it is impossible to leave, because the airports have been destroyed and the airspace has been closed…This is the worst day of my life.” pic.twitter.com/QpBFw4Nkjj— Próxima Jornada (@ProximaJornada1) February 24, 2022 Mircea Lucescu (12 seasons), Paolo Fonseca (3 seasons), and Roberto De Zerbi (current manager) are currently all in Kyiv, waiting for the hostilities to come down, or to find a way to get out of the country, whichever comes first. But unlike his younger colleagues, Lucescu doesn’t want to leave. Paulo Fonseca has coached Shakhtar Donetsk and Roma, and he is married to a Ukrainian, so he was in his wife’s country when the war broke, just hours before his flight was scheduled. “I woke up at five in the morning with five explosions in a row. I had a flight scheduled for today, but now it’s impossible to leave here because the airports are already destroyed and the airspace has been closed. You can only get out of Kiev by land and everybody is trying to escape to Lviv, it’s impossible to get around, the queues are huge. All we can do is pray that a bomb doesn’t fall on us. Honestly, I don’t know how I’m going to get out of here. This is the worst day of my life.” Fonseca told Jornal de Notícias.Shakhtar Donetsk coach Roberto De Zerbi has refused to leave Ukraine despite advice from the Italian embassy. pic.twitter.com/LjzYs2xFZB— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) February 24, 2022 Current Shakhar coach, Italian Roberto De Zerbi is currently at a hotel in Kyiv along with his staff and some Shakhtar players, mostly Brazilians with their families, who are trying to find a way to get out of the country. “I am staying in my room. Today is not a good day. I’ve been waiting for the federation to suspend the season until this happened. However, I didn’t move. I am here to do sport and I could not turn my back on the fans. There are 13 Brazilian players here and my staff. We could have returned home, but we preferred to wait. Last night we woke up to the noise of explosions. There are no heroes here, but our job puts us in front of responsibilities. We were supposed to play on Saturday, so I could not run away. It’s something difficult to explain to our loved ones who have texted us, asking us to return. At this point, we hope that the Government and the embassy will help us. I am optimistic and If I could go back in time, I’d make the same choice” De Zerbi told Sportitalia.Dynamo Kyiv manager Mircea Lucescu: “All sporting activity in Ukraine was suspended for 30 days. I will not leave Kyiv to return to Romania, I’m not a coward. I hope these big people with no brains will stop this war. I never thought this was possible” pic.twitter.com/XSDbrwh9JN— Emanuel Roşu (@Emishor) February 24, 2022 And the most experienced of them all, Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu is in Ukraine right now. Former Shakhtar coach now manages their biggest rival Dynamo Kyiv but this is not a new situation for him. In 2014, Russian separatist forces in the region then bombed Donetsk, including the Shakhtar stadium. Mircea Lucescu and the team sponsored by Rinat Ahmetov were forced to take refuge in other sports arenas in other cities of the country.“All sporting activity in Ukraine was suspended for 30 days. I will not leave Kyiv to return to Romania, I’m not a coward. I hope these big people with no brains will stop this war. I never thought this was possible” said the Romanian today.
