NYON, Switzerland: Exiled from its conflict-torn home city for a third season, Shakhtar Donetsk will start its quest to stay in the Champions League elite against Young Boys.
Shakhtar was drawn on Friday to host the Swiss league runner-up in the third qualifying round on July 26 or 27. The return match in Switzerland is the following week.
For the third straight season, “home” for Shakhtar is Lviv, more than 1,000 kilometers (about 650 miles) west of Donetsk, where conflict between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists have made the city unsafe.
“Can you imagine we don’t have our home, we don’t have our fans, we don’t have our stadium, we don’t have our training camp. We have nothing,” Shakhtar CEO Sergei Palkin said at UEFA headquarters.
Shakhtar has overcome the turmoil of being based in Kiev, and playing in Lviv, to play in the Champions League for the past two seasons. As runner-up in the Ukraine league for a second straight season, it must advance through two qualifying rounds to be in the 32-team group stage.
“It’s very difficult from a psychological point of view,” Palkin said of the club which has recruited only modestly despite selling two Brazilian stars, Douglas Costa and Alex Teixeira, in the past year.
Backed by billionaire owner Rinat Akhmetov, Shakhtar is as key to the identity of the mining region of Donbass and its people as Barcelona is to Catalonia.
“Their life is very, very hard now. Unbelievable problems,” Palkin said of the club’s fans. “To see their club playing it’s like a new breath of air. If anybody will tell us, ‘You will never return back,’ we will stop (playing).”
Shkahtar’s real home — the Donbass Arena, a 2012 European Championship host venue — has mostly survived the conflict and is an operations base for humanitarian aid.
“The stadium is good. We need one month maximum more or less to clean it,” said Palkin, though it is unclear when that might be.
The politics of Shakhtar’s and Ukraine’s situation in European soccer was again a factor in the draw made Friday. Shakhtar and Rostov were kept apart by a UEFA rule since 2014 blocking teams from Ukraine and Russia being drawn to play each other.
Rostov, an unheralded regional club in the competition for the first time, was paired with Anderlecht in the third qualifying round. Its reward for advancing could be a playoff against Manchester City, Roma or FC Porto.
In other pairings Friday, four-time champion Ajax was drawn with PAOK Thessaloniki, Fenerbahce will play Monaco and Sparta Prague will face Steaua Bucharest.
The first legs will be played on July 26-27, and return matches on Aug. 2-3.
In a separate qualifying draw for national champions, Olympiakos was drawn to play Sheriff Tiraspol or Hapoel Beer-Sheva. Sheriff and Hapoel will complete a second round series next week.
The winners advance to the playoff round, which will decide the final 10 places in the 32-team group stage which is drawn Aug. 25 in Monaco.
In the Europa League draw on Friday, West Ham was paired with Shakhtyor Soligorsk or Domzale, who are level at 1-1 in the second qualifying round.
Gent, which reached the round of 16 in the Champions League last season, plays Viitorul Constanta of Romania in the third qualifying round.
UEFA made both draws after observing silent tributes to victims of a deadly attack in Nice late Thursday.
Nice was a European Championship host city, and the French city’s team enters the Europa League at the group stage in September.
Shakhtar to face Young Boys in Champions League qualifier
Shakhtar to face Young Boys in Champions League qualifier
Barca suffer title defense blow in Girona derby defeat
- Girona ended the game with 10 men when Roca scythed down Yamal to cut short a desperate Barca attack deep in stoppage time
GIRONA, Spain: Spanish champions Barcelona fell to a damaging 2-1 defeat at Girona on Monday to leave them trailing Real Madrid by two points at the top of La Liga.
Los Blancos beat Real Sociedad on Saturday to overtake the Catalans and Hansi Flick’s side could not defeat Girona in an gripping derby clash to reclaim the lead.
Teenage star Lamine Yamal missed a penalty for Barcelona, who took the lead through defender Pau Cubarsi just before the hour mark.
However goals from Thomas Lemar and Fran Beltran helped Girona, 12th, mount an impressive comeback.
“We have to improve because they can’t score these two goals against us,” Cubarsi told DAZN.
“We have to be self-critical, we didn’t play a great game, we have to improve, but now we have to rest and charge our batteries.”
Both sides were attacking with abandon in the first half and it was remarkable they went in goalless at the break.
Raphinha whipped a shot narrowly wide and Yamal fired straight at Girona goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga when through on goal.
At the other end Ukrainian striker Vladyslav Vanat missed a slew of presentable opportunities.
Ferran Torres fired a good chance wide for Barca and Raphinha drove against the upright as Flick’s side pushed for the opener.
They should have got it when Dani Olmo was clumsily felled in the box by Daley Blind, but Yamal hit the post from the spot.
Barcelona eventually took the lead through Pau Cubarsi’s header from Jules Kounde’s cross after 59 minutes, but Girona swiftly pulled level.
Thomas Lemar slipped away from Eric Garcia and turned home Vanat’s pass from close range.
It shifted the momentum in Girona’s favor and Barca were left relying on some stunning saves from goalkeeper Joan Garcia to keep them afloat.
The stopper denied Ivan Martin and Vanat with a remarkable double save, and then thwarted Joel Roca with his leg.
Barca could not stem the tide and Girona forced their way in front after 87 minutes, with Fran Beltran stroking home from the edge of the area.
The visitors, who last week made an official complaint to the Spanish football federation over perceived refereeing inconsistencies, were left fuming after Kounde was fouled by Claudio Echeverri in the build-up and it went unpunished.
Girona ended the game with 10 men when Roca scythed down Yamal to cut short a desperate Barca attack deep in stoppage time.
It did the job and the hosts celebrated wildly at the end with their jubilant fans at Montilivi, as Flick demanded explanations from the referee.
“It seemed like a foul (on Kounde) to me, but we shouldn’t focus on decisions we can’t control,” said Barca defender Gerard Martin.
