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Shaktar’s final match in the stadium, which once staged grand Champions League affairs with Barcelona and Real Madrid, was on 2 May 2014, a 3-1 win over Mariupol – a football club that no longer exists from a city that barely exists following the 2022 escalation and full-scale Russian invasion.<\/p>\n
And yet football endures in Ukraine, albeit no further east than Kryvyi Rih, which lies about 40 miles from the nearest Russian stronghold in the country, and in front of largely empty arenas.<\/p>\n
The reminder of what is happening in the country is never far away with matches occasionally interrupted by air raid alerts, with one of the hotels the Shakhtar squad stayed in last season hit by a missile.<\/p>\n
For eastern clubs like Shakhtar, playing in exile for more than a decade has been hugely challenging as they prepare to visit struggling Aberdeen for their Conference League opener on Thursday.<\/p>\n
In truth, every game they have played for 10 years has been an away game, with their European ‘home’ ties taking place in the Polish city of Krakow this season, more than 600 miles from the Ukrainian border.<\/p>\n
Their continental adventures have given a sense of escapism from what is going on at home.<\/p>\n
An example of that reality has been Shakhtar taking part in the Ukrainian Amputee Football Championship, which was launched amid a rising number of men afflicted by the conflict on the frontlines.<\/p>\n
It says a lot about the strength of Shakhtar Donetsk that, despite their displacement, they have continued to enjoy success on the pitch.<\/p>\n
Although they lost out on the title last season, they have won the Ukrainian championship six times since they were forced out of their home.<\/p>\n
The last-ever Uefa Cup winners have also continued to operate well in European competition, regularly reaching the knockout stages of both the Champions League and Europa League.<\/p>\n
Now, under new head coach and former Turkey, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid midfielder Arda Turan, they sit two points clear of defending champions Dynamo Kyiv, having made an unbeaten start to the season – save for a Europa League qualifying shootout defeat by Panathinaikos that landed them in this tournament for the first time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n