Renowned journalist Sergiy Tyshchenko commented on this weekend's central match in the Spanish league Real Madrid vs Girona (4:0).
"Yesterday in Spain, the two best teams of this season's La Liga played - Real Madrid and Girona. There were three Ukrainians in both teams - two from Girona and one from Madrid. This is the direction and trend in which Ukrainian football is heading.
Ten years ago, the presence of Ukrainians in the best teams in Spain was simply out of the question. A golden cage was created that killed and prevented progress.
Neither Dovbyk, Tsygankov nor Lunin have anything to do with Shakhtar. Although each of them could have ended up there if the Donetsk club had wanted them to. They just decided that these players were not of their level and prospects. Tsygankov was on trial at Shakhtar at a young age. He spoke about it himself in an interview. Lunin could have been taken after Metalist collapsed, as Sudakov was. Or from Dnipro, as Mudryk was taken. Or we could have negotiated with Zorya. Dovbyk was available when Dnipro started to collapse, after the failure in Denmark, even in the summer of 2022 for a lot of money.
From time to time, we are told that Shakhtar is a business project. If this were the case, Arab sheikhs would buy the club, inject money to increase turnover and make a profit. There are no takers for Shakhtar. Nor is there any investor interested in buying another Ukrainian club.
There is a war going on right now. In such realities, football can only be maintained at a minimum level, because it will be very difficult to restore it later. The level of the UPL has dropped. This is an opportunity for young Ukrainian footballers to develop, a chance for them to get involved in adult football. The example should be set not only by Rukh (it has even reached Ingulets owner Povorozniuk), Dynamo, Vorskla, Kryvbas, but above all by Shakhtar. Because this club is looked up to in Ukraine. If Shakhtar relied on young Ukrainian players, then Polissya, LNZ, and Karpaty would not have wanted to take on legionnaires. Because they always look up to the strong and successful. Over the past 10 years in Ukraine, it was Shakhtar who won the most titles and had the greatest success in European competitions," Serhiy wrote on Telegram.