With war raging in Ukraine's Donetsk region, Shakhtar have been forced to play their home matches elsewhere, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Poland’s Legia have allowed Shakhtar to host their Champions League games at the Polish Army Stadium in Warsaw.
And so on Tuesday the Donetsk side face the Spanish legends Real Madrid in the Polish capital as part of Europe’s premier club competition.
‘An important day for us’
“It’s an important day and a vitally significant game for us,” said Shakhtar’s Croatian coach Igor Jovićević.
Last week, the Ukrainian side lost 1-2 to Real at the famous Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, with Olexandr Zubkov getting Shakhtar’s goal.
Jovićević commented: “Our previous match against Real showed that we can compete against the Champions League winners, the best team in Europe.”
He added: “Anything can happen over 90 minutes, but we’ll have to be at our best and hope that Real have an off day.”
After three matchdays, Real top Group F, having collected a maximum of nine points. Shakhtar, meanwhile, sit second on four points after a 1-1 draw against Scotland’s Celtic Glasgow and a 4-1 victory over Germany’s RB Leipzig.
‘Help us end this war’
Shakhtar’s Jovićević said his team had a message for the world, after Russia’s mass rocket strikes on Ukrainian cities on Monday.
“We want to send the world a message: help us end this war,” he said.
Shakhtar’s goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin said: “We’ll try to play in such a way that all Ukrainians forget about the war for 90 minutes.”
Meanwhile, the Warsaw Royal Castle museum has prepared a treat for the Ukrainian and Spanish fans, offering free admission on Tuesday and Wednesday to those with tickets for the Shakhtar-Real game.
The Spanish champions are set to play the Polish capital for the first time since the autumn of 2016, when they battled out an entertaining 3-3 draw against Legia Warsaw in that season’s Champions League, the PAP news agency reported.
Tuesday’s game between Shakhtar and Real starts at Warsaw’s Polish Army Stadium at 9 p.m. local time.
Tuesday is day 230 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, uefa.com, zamek-krolewski.pl