At 2,400 kilometers from Donetsk, you might think that Shakhtar is walking almost alone. A wandering club due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, Barça's rivals have been living with their suitcases on top of them since 2014, between buses, planes, fears and uncertainties. But he does not live without the support of his fans, whether in person or from a distance. Forced by circumstances to play far away from home, Xakhtar gathered 46,729 spectators in their first Champions League match against Porto at the Völksparkstadion in Hamburg. This Tuesday it is expected that more than 50,000 people will gather to receive the Barcelona team. On Monday, a simple glance at the website of the Ukrainian team indicated that only 140 seats remained for sale. The prices had ranged between 57 and 714 euros, but there was no obstacle for it to rub off or reach the plenary session.
How is it possible? For a lot of reasons. Last season, Shakhtar played the continental matches in Poland, at the stadium of Legia in Warsaw. For this season he opted for Hamburg. It is not a futile choice. It is estimated that one million Ukrainians have moved to Germany, and about 80,000 of them are settled in Hamburg. But this is not the only reason that encourages the presence of the public. It is also true that the Hanseatic city has a footballing tradition, with two main clubs: Hamburg SV, which plays its matches at the Völksparkstadion, and the vindictive Sankt Pauli, the quintessential left-wing club.
But both teams are in Segona, so Hamburg is an orphan of super-elite football. The city hasn't hosted Champions League matches since Hamburg SV last played there in 2006. In fact, it hasn't even seen a Europa League match since 2010. In that sense there was also a good market vein. Members of Xakhtar and Hamburg SV are the ones who have priority to buy Champions League tickets. By the way, the German Federation is doing very well, because the venue is being tested for the 2024 European Championship after having, at the time, hosted the 2006 World Cup. The draw for the European Championship will be held here on December 2
But the fact that he plays in Europe, in Hamburg, does not mean that Shakhtar lives there. He also has to play in the Ukrainian League matches, sometimes interrupted by sirens announcing bombings. The Donetsk team is preparing in Lviv, a Ukrainian city located about 70 kilometers from Poland. On Saturday he traveled from Kyiv to Lviv and on Sunday, from there to Rzeszów (Poland) to take a flight to Lübeck (Germany) and make the last leg by road to Hamburg. "It's not ideal because it involves a lot of wear and tear and forces you to be mentally strong, but we're very happy to be here. We are like a family, in which the players help each other", said the manager of Xakhtar, Marino Pusic.
His transfers are an odyssey. Depending on the waiting time at the border between Ukraine and Poland, it can take up to ten hours to play the Champions League. This time there were seven. Many more than the two and a quarter hours that Barça took.
