Bad time and bad memory

“Today we dream of only one thing: to return home, to our dear and peaceful Donetsk, to our beautiful Donbass Arena.” It is now seven years since Shakhtar left Donetsk to settle in Kiev, unsurpassed trauma recalled in a letter to fans by its president, the mining and steel magnate Rinat Akhmetov, on the 25th anniversary of his arrival at the club. The armed conflict in eastern Ukraine stripped Shakhtar of almost everything in a moment of takeoff: he left his stadium and his sports city with fresh cement (he only enjoyed the facilities for five years), he lost a good part of his income, he was forced to rent the stadiums in Lviv and Kharkov until he ended up in Kiev and it has been difficult for him to find footballers willing to play for a team in exile. But there are two things that have not changed: Akhmetov’s ambition to make the club the most powerful in the country (in the aforementioned letter he boasted of his 35 titles) and the propensity to sign Brazilians for use and enjoyment or for resale. In his last starting line-up there were eight: the two midfielders, the three midfielders and the striker. Then three more would come in.

In 2004, Akhmetov, fortune number 327 in the world according to the Forbes list and addicted to the purchase of luxury homes (he has the most expensive in the world, Les Cedres, a mansion on the French Riviera), signed the Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu, today Dynamo Kiev coach, the great rival. Lucescu convinced him to sign Brazilian talents to discover, either as reinforcements or as a source of income. Time proved him right. Chygrynski (to Barça for 25 million), Fernandinho (to City, 40), Willian (to Anzhi, 35), Douglas Costa (to Bayern, 30), Fred (to United, 59), Álex Teixeira (to Suning, 50) or Luiz Adriano (at Milan, 14) have fed a good part of the project. And when it has not reached with that surplus value, there has been Akhmetov, who this summer has spent 47 million in four transfers: former Barcelona player Marlon (Sassuolo), Pedrinho (Benfica), Lassina Traoré (Ajax) and Vinicius Tobías (International, will arrive in January). The latter will be the thirteenth Brazilian in the squad.

The gunner’s injury

The base of the team that beat Madrid in both games in the group stage last year remains the same. In fact, 17 of the 21 footballers who participated in that double duel are still in the squad. Today he will be missing Lassina Traoré, who came as the great offensive asset and scored six goals at the start of the season, but in the duel against Inter broke her knee in a tackle by the Dutch Dumfries. He won’t be back for nine months. Another of his finishers, Junior Moraes, has five out and has two left to return.

Madrid, in any case, will find a different Shakhtar. The Portuguese Luis Castro left for Qatari Al-Duhail and Darijo Serna, a Croatian legend who spent fifteen years at the club, finished his career at Cagliari and works as sports director, Roberto de Zerbi, the miracle coach of Sassuolo, was brought from Serie A, whom he left eighth twice in three years. “Many Italian clubs called me, but they did not encourage me. I have left a situation of comfort to start from scratch,” he explained.

De Zerbi, Milan youth squad and former player of twelve teams, has seen it all in football and in the end he has stayed with Guardiola: “One day I said that it was preferable to lose a Champions League with him than win it with anyone else. It was a provocation, but I wanted to underline that he cannot be treated as a genius for winning the Premier without a pure striker and as a donkey for not winning the Champions League for not putting up a pure striker. “De Zerbi has brought a football of maximum elaboration. In fact, possession of his team has been overwhelming in the first two days (75% against Sheriff and 66% against Inter), but having the ball does not mean being right. He only takes one point and has not scored any goals, unexpected records in a team that in the previous phase threw Genk and Monaco. So the duel is very demanding because in their league they are three points behind Dinamo Kiev, although on Saturday they made a set to Zorya (6-1). Today is another tournament and another world.

4-3-3, official language

There is no relief in Madrid either. For the hit to the Sheriff, who also shot Shakhtar, and through the FIFA window. Alaba, Militao and Hazard arrived injured (the last one did not travel) and Valverde was beaten in three full games in three different countries. Six more footballers also played with their national teams. In return, Mendy and Marcelo return, although very out of point. The first has not played since May 5. The second has played only two minutes this course. He has had twelve injuries in two seasons, ten of them muscular.

Madrid appears immersed in the first pothole of the course, after three games without winning (Villarreal, Sheriff and Espanyol). So Ancelotti will play it safe, he will risk with Militao and Alaba and who knows if with Mendy, and will entrust himself to his three eternal midfielders: Modric, Casemiro and Kroos. Only the first had matches with his national teams. Upstairs Benzema, Vinicius and perhaps Lucas Vázquez or Rodrygo are expected, once reinstated, in the mouth of the coach himself, the 4-3-3 as the official language. And there will be no pre-classic reserves. Losing in Kiev is putting the leadership of the group in Japanese. And pot one of eighths will be infested with crocodiles.