Mircea Lucescu: "It was my duty to stay in Ukraine"

Dynamo Kyiv head coach Mircea Lucescu explained why he decided to stay in Ukraine after Russia's full-scale invasion began.

"I started from the idea that I had a very good time when I was at Shakhtar Donetsk, and it was also my first year at Dynamo Kyiv, when we won the Ukrainian championship, the Ukrainian Cup, and played in the Champions League. And then I thought that I could not be with my colleagues only in the good times, when we were successful. So I decided to stay when absolutely all the foreigners decided to leave. We lost 11 players then. I said I couldn't leave. It is my duty to stay. I will stay here as long as I can, because I am 78 years old.

As for football itself during the war, even the number of sports channels has decreased. Fans still cannot come to the stadiums, and we know that they create a great atmosphere. You feel their incredible support.

It's very difficult because at any moment a siren can sound to inform you of an air raid. This can happen both during training and during a match. We wait for the alarm to go off and then return to the pitch. Another aspect that is quite difficult to endure is that before the matches there is always a minute of silence for the victims of war or people who have suffered as a result of war: people without a leg, without an arm... they come out on the pitch and take the first kick of the ball. It is very hard to watch this... In this moment of silence, all the horrors and misfortunes of war pass before my eyes," Mircea Lucescu said on ProSport Live.