After Thursday night’s defeat to Rennes, Dynamo kyiv are still stuck at zero points after four days of the Europa League, but that’s not the most important thing for a homeless club, whose daily life is disrupted by the war in Ukraine. . Like millions of people in the country as in Krakow, Poland, one hundred kilometers from the border where many Ukrainian refugees have settled in recent months. For them, and for many fans, this football match was an opportunity to come together and show support tinged with yellow and blue for their country wounded by this conflict. Reportage.
By Clément Gavard, in Krakow
Friday 14 October Modified Friday 14 October at 1.32 pm
Strolling through the streets of Krakow, from the grandiose Rynek Główny Square to the majestic Wawel Castle overlooking the city and the Vistula River, two iconic places that attract tourists even in October, it seems almost unthinkable that war is the daily life of the neighboring country. This Monday, just over 300 kilometers away, Lviv, located in western Ukraine and spared from fighting with the Russian army since the beginning of the conflict, has been the target of numerous bombings. The day before, Dynamo kyiv, whose last league home games had been transferred to Lviv, had seen the match against Rukh (3-0) interrupted after 79 minutes of play for 1 hour and 30 minutes under the sirens announcing the threat of an air strike. “We have to play to keep the enthusiasm in this difficult situationcoach Mircea Lucescu responded soberly last week when he arrived at Rennes. This is the most important, keep the motivation to keep football alive. Football must never stop. If we like this sport, it is not insignificant. ” In Krakow, without the Dynamo kyiv-Rennes match being an event in the city, this Thursday night was an opportunity for the Ukrainian capital’s club, its few fans, refugees and supporters to show their support (and pride ) for a war-torn country.
“We spend three days in one place, then three days in another. We no longer have our own place. We play on a different training ground every day, we live in a different hotel every day. ” Mircea Lucescu, Dynamo Kyiv coach
A homeless club
How do you play football in such a context? The question arises and Dynamo kyiv, like many Ukrainian clubs, have been trying to find the best answers since competitions resumed in August after months without official matches. After four days in Group B of the Europa League, Tsygankov’s side has not yet taken a point, but it is neither surprising nor important. “We have to pay tribute to them. To get such a performance as they did tonight, given the context and the situation, it’s admirableinsisted Bruno Genesio this Thursday evening after the measure success of the Stade Rennes (0-1). I almost want to congratulate them more than my team. ” The Ukrainians are doing everything possible to adapt and move, they who have set foot only twice in the capital, their city, since the resumption of the championship. A shot in Switzerland during the preparation, another in Łódź in Poland for the European preliminaries, and then in Krakow from the start of the group stage. The trip to Brittany last week felt like a journey, between a three-hour block on the Slovakian border on the outward journey and a twelve-hour journey to Lviv on the way back. A city that Dynamo had to leave urgently at the beginning of the week to travel to Krakow in seven hours by road. “We were allowed to get out immediately, but these attacks remain a difficult time” Lucescu suffered in French in the press room of the Józef-Piłsudski stadium on Wednesday evening.
The laughing-eyed coach, like his players, refuses to feel sorry for himself. Everyone even accepted, with a good dose of fatalism, the precarious conditions to prepare for the matches every week. Lucescu: “We spend three days in one place, then three days in another. We no longer have our own place. We play on a different training ground every day, we live in a different hotel every day. ” On Tuesday evening, Dynamo kyiv were forced to train without lights, due to a lack of sufficient equipment in their temporary workplace. The Romanian coach is neither angry nor annoyed, he also sees some positive for his team: “It’s okay because it trains concentration, attention and coordination. ” A way to relativize, to put more lightness in the daily life of its players and to stay on football rather than focusing on the situation caused by the war. This does not prevent him from regretting having to play away from the fans, while league matches are played behind closed doors. “They are not home games. Staying at home would mean having supporters, feeling their warmthLucescu said. We haven’t had all of this since returning to competition. ”
“The matches motivate the Ukrainian soldiers. Those from Kyiv will be watching Dynamo tonight, it will help them think of other things and a win could give them energy. ” Volodymyr, 43 years old
“Being here with this flag is a kind of pride”
It is true that there was a special atmosphere this Thursday at the Józef-Piłsudski stadium, with a capacity of 15,000 seats and whose attendance was around 4,000, including 300 Rennes residents who participated in the trip. In the stands numerous blue and yellow flags, as well as several signs in support of Ukrainian cities attacked and claimed by Russia (“Yalta is Ukraine” , “Kherson is Ukraine”). Among the many, many women and children, men of fighting age who were not allowed to leave Ukraine. A little less than two hours after the kick-off, Sonya, a 17-year-old girl accompanied by a friend, distributes flags to the first arrivals, like this group of children who arrived with a football club established more than 100 kilometers from Krakow. “It is very important to show our support, I came here to support my country” explains Sonya, who fled Kharkiv last March to take refuge in Poland. A little further on, the high school student turns to a gang of Polish boys to verbally vent on Vladimir Putin.
Inside the enclosure, the name of the President of the Russian Federation is pushed aside and gives way to chants in praise of Dynamo and Ukraine, with few vocal thrusts at each approach of Lucescu’s men towards Steve Mandanda’s cage. In line to buy a sausage at the bar, Serghii, Sarny’s 42-year-old truck driver, is happy to find “his favorite team” and sees the return of football as “synonymous with hope” . Later, already installed in his place, Ivan, 25 and together with his girlfriend, left Kherson, a region currently occupied, to go into exile in Krakow last month. Everyone agrees to talk about their daily life, with a certain modesty, but also the desire, the need to share their concerns, their hopes and above all their sadness in the face of this situation. “This is nothing new for us, it has been going on since 2014 for many of us and is now spread across the country” recalls Volodymyr (“like Zelensky and Putin” smiles), a 43-year-old man from Dnipro who landed in Poland seven years earlier.
“We can’t think about war all the time, we’d go crazy. ” Nikita, 28, from Zaporizhia
In the midst of much bigger concerns, football is doing its part, to bring people together and please those who haven’t eaten much lately. “With football we try to bring something positive to the Ukrainians” , assured defender Illya Zabarnyi at a press conference. Wrapped in a blue and yellow flag embossed with the coat of arms of Ukraine – a sort of stylized trident which, according to many historians, would represent a falcon swooping over a prey -, Nikita, 28, wants to take advantage of this for an hour. and a half to free your mind. “We can’t think about war all the time, we’d go crazyadmits he who left his city of Zaporijia for Krakow for his pre-war work. I would have come to see any other Ukrainian team tonight. Being here, with this flag, is a kind of pride. ” For his part, Volodymyr intends to follow from a distance the result of his favorite team, FK Dnipro, expected in Vaduz in the Europa League Conference (2-1 victory), and also thinks of his compatriots, in particular the military, in first line. “The matches motivate the Ukrainian soldiers. Those from Kyiv will be watching Dynamo tonight, it will help them think of other things and a win could give them energythinks he knows. One day one of them went to Spain to play football and they told him they would follow his results to motivate himself, they need it. ” Each week, Volodymyr helps Ukrainian newcomers to Krakow by offering them financial or psychological support, while there are many humanitarian aid points in the city.
Back to Lviv and great blur
Obviously everyone would have preferred to see Dinamo, 8And in the Ukrainian league standings after five days (three wins, two defeats), he gets a first European success against Rennes or at least tears a draw, but the result immediately takes a back seat in such a context. “Yes, we put it into perspective more easily, it’s just football, even if it’s really good for us to be there together” , Nikita confirms. The final whistle of the referee not only closed the game, but also closed this interlude of lightness, leisure and brought the Ukrainians back to their fears, when on Monday the country experienced the most intense day of bombing since February 24. Great blur for Dynamo Kyiv, still waiting to know where the match against Shakhtar scheduled for Sunday afternoon would take place. “We agreed to play the game in London. We also offered to play in Warsaw, whether they are coming to Krakow or waiting to playLucescu presented this Wednesday. Players have experienced rocket launches there. So they are afraid, they are worried about themselves, their family, everyone. Returning to Lviv right away doesn’t seem like a real possibility. But we will play. ” After Thursday night’s defeat against Rennes, two members of the Ukrainian delegation told us that the game should finally be played … in Lviv, without this news bewitching them. When asked if playing football in such a context made sense, Lucescu as his player Zabarnyi had replied the day before, as if to protect himself and not to get it into his head that what they are doing is in vain. Each match is an escape for many Ukrainians and also, to some extent, a message of hope.
By Clément Gavard, in Krakow
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