"I just couldn't take it anymore" - Mircea Lucescu on his departure from Dynamo

Former Dynamo Kyiv head coach Mircea Lucescu has briefly described the period of his career at this Ukrainian club.

- "Dynamo asked me to help and I agreed to take over their team. The first year went very well, we won the Ukrainian championship, the Ukrainian Cup and the Ukrainian Super Cup. Then in 2022 the war started, but I decided to stay, although, in the end, we played in stadiums without spectators, we could no longer use aeroplanes, and any bus journey to the match took 9-10 hours.

When the war started, the second part of the Ukrainian championship was not played and we went to Europe, where we played several charity matches in defence of peace. That was my idea. In general, at that time I thought that the war would soon be over, that it would not last long, and while it was going on, football would be a response to the need of people in this situation: a few minutes of leisure to better endure the terrible reality, to distract myself from the thoughts of constant loss of life.

There were 14 players left in the team, but I didn't give up and rebuilt the team, filling the squad with young performers. I wanted to be there for the guys in this terrible situation. Many of these players grew up with me, they are strong and I am sure they will have good careers.

But when the bombing of the cities intensified, I couldn't take it anymore. My family called me every day, they were very worried about me. In the end, I left in November and returned to Bucharest," Il Tirreno quoted Lucescu as saying.