Shakhtar Donetsk base in London as Champions League home matches move to Stamford Bridge

With no ‘home’ games in Ukraine, Arda Turan’s side hit the road again, with Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge hosting their Champions League campaignThe morning has thinned out into low, wispy cloud. Beneath it, Shakhtar Donetsk’s players are going through their paces. It is a light session for those who did not start against Veres Rivne the previous day; that means Arda Turan observes from the side, watching with the director of football, Darijo Srna. A stray ball zips towards them and Srna, after juggling it up, bends it into the goal with a familiar right-footed arc. “Modric!” exclaims Turan. But the two men are football legends in their own right and, as they continue to joke before Srna dashes away to take another phone call, the thought occurs that this happy scene could be played out almost anywhere else. Nearby, just beyond the team’s accommodation, a lake shimmers under the emerging sun.It masks the fact that, around dawn, air raid sirens disrupted the peace for everyone in view. Even here, in Shakhtar’s bucolic spa hotel base 15 minutes outside Lviv, nobody is safe from the threat of Russian rockets and drones. In Rivne, three hours’ drive to the north-east, another alarm had sent the players and staff down to the stadium’s shelter. The second half was delayed by 20 minutes and that, no matter the corner of the country or the vividness of the autumn colours, is a weekly reality. Continue reading...

Shakhtar moved into the Donbass Arena in 2009, with the ground one of the main venues at Euro 2012, but it hasn't hosted a football match since 2014.

Shakhtar moved into the Donbass Arena in 2009, with the ground one of the main venues at Euro 2012, but it hasn't hosted a football match since 2014.

Shakhtar Donetsk will be playing Champions League home games at Stamford Bridge this season. It is a scenario nobody wants ideally, but the UK's Ukrainian community is making the best of a difficult situation.

Shakhtar Donetsk will be playing Champions League home games at Stamford Bridge this season. It is a scenario nobody wants ideally, but the UK's Ukrainian community is making the best of a difficult situation.

Chief executive Sergei Palkin says the club’s Stamford Bridge base helps keep Ukraine’s plight in spotlight

Shakhtar Donetsk will play their European home matches at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge, with club chief executive Sergei Palkin saying the move will help keep Ukraine’s struggle in the international spotlight. The club has played in exile since 2014 and hopes one day to return to Ukraine.