Kiev: War refugees Shakhtar Donetsk head into Wednesday's Champions League clash with Italian side AS Roma in high spirits despite a lack of signings and sparse match practice.
The war in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russian-backed separatists has forced Shakhtar to play their home games far from their state-of-the-art Donbass Arena stadium for the past four years.
In 2014, the club moved to Lviv, close to Ukraine's western border with Poland, but the local crowd -- that favours their own top-flight side, Karpaty -- was often openly hostile to the Donetsk team or ignored their games all together.Last year Shakhtar's owners decided to switch their "home" venue to the eastern city of Kharkiv, 250 kilometres (155 miles) northwest of their native Donetsk.Shakhtar, the only club from the eastern Europe in the Champions League knockout stage, will host Roma at the 40,000-seat Metalist Kharkiv stadium. The Ukraine conflict has caused Shakhtar's billionaire owner Rinat Akhmetov to lose control of dozens of his coal mining and metallurgical enterprises located in the eastern rebel-held territories. AFP
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