Forced to move again but Shakhtar stay true to roots

KYIV • It was not the sounds of the bombs, though he did hear those, that brought back the memories for Darijo Srna. It was the air-raid sirens.

When they blared in Kyiv shortly after 6am on Feb 24, Srna froze in terror. His mind flooded with thoughts and recollections of his childhood, of his first experience with war, when the former Yugoslavia broke apart in the 1990s.

Since then, football has taken the 39-year-old far from his home in Croatia to a distinguished career, the bulk of it with Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk, where he is the director of football, and to games in the Champions League and at two World Cups.

But in an instant, the sounds of sirens brought it all back. "I started to panic," the former Croatia defender, who retired in 2016 and is the second-most capped player for his country with 134 appearances.

"You have some trauma for all your life, for sure - deep in yourself. That is something you try to forget. But you can never forget these types of things."

Shakhtar had run from bombs before. In 2014, the last time Russian forces invaded Ukraine and then annexed Crimea, missiles landed on their stadium.

Within days, the club packed and headed west, beginning a nomadic existence: to a new home in Lviv, in the far west of the country, and then east again, to Kharkiv, before settling in the capital, Kyiv.

Now Shakhtar are on the move again. With war leading to the indefinite suspension of the second half of the season, they have become a touring team, playing exhibition games - the first was last Saturday in Greece - to bring attention to the plight of Ukrainians and to raise money for the war effort.

They took on Lechia in Gdansk, Poland yesterday and will fly to Istanbul next Tuesday for a friendly against Fenerbahce, before travelling to Split, Croatia for a match against Hajduk on May 1.

Despite not having played in their home city of Donetsk, which has since been named the capital of the breakaway Donetsk People's Republic, in eight years, Shakhtar never stopped being a team. Now, they hope, they will be a symbol, too.

"I don't know which kind of team in the history of football can be compared to us," Srna said.

"No other team has ever felt or lived what we have in these past eight years."

Like every other corner of the Ukrainian population, Shakhtar have been touched by the war in more serious ways, too.

A coach from the team's academy died after his home town was overrun by Russian forces in the opening weeks. Two staff from the team's merchandising department have taken up arms.

Shakhtar's training site in Kyiv also bears the scars of conflict, having been hit by shelling and artillery fire. With so much damage to the country and war still raging, their timetable beyond their tour appears to be little more than a placeholder.

It is not even clear if Donetsk, Shakhtar's home, will remain a part of Ukraine, a prospect that could make the team's temporary exile a permanent one.

Whatever the case, whatever the conclusion, officials have vowed that the team, 13-time league champions, would never turn their back on their roots.

"They can put any flag they like in Donetsk," Srna said. "But Shakhtar will always be from Donetsk; it's something no one and nothing can ever change."

NYTIMES, REUTERS