Midfielder Marlon Gomes was the last player to arrive for international duty with Brazil due to extensive travel restrictions caused by the ongoing war in Ukraine, UOL reported.
The 22-year-old former Vasco da Gama player described a grueling multi-leg journey to join national team coach Carlo Ancelotti’s squad. Because air traffic in Ukraine is restricted, the trip required a lengthy van ride across the border before catching multiple flights.
“It’s a complicated situation, air traffic is not allowed, so you have to take a van or a bus,” Gomes told UOL. “So on the day we left early in the morning, took maybe seven or eight hours by van, arrived in Poland, took a flight to Istanbul, I don’t remember how long the flight was there, but it was a bit long. And then from Istanbul to Singapore, which was also a very long flight.”
Shakhtar Donetsk relocated its operations multiple times following the outbreak of conflict. The club originally left Donetsk after the city was taken by pro-Russian separatist forces, establishing a new base in Kyiv. In 2022, following the full-scale Russian invasion, the club moved again to Lviv for safety and logistical reasons.
Gomes said that managing these logistical hurdles is a regular part of competing in European leagues for Ukrainian clubs. While the early days of experiencing the conflict proved difficult, he has since adapted to the reality of the situation.
“[T]his is not just now because of the call-up, but with any game in a European competition Shakhtar goes through this, this difficulty there because of the war,” Gomes told UOL. “Not only Shakhtar, but any Ukrainian team that plays in a European league. It was like I said: in the beginning it was very difficult for me to experience all this, but I believe it served as a learning experience for some moment in my life. Today I am quite adapted.”
The midfielder now helps newer Brazilian players acclimate to the unique circumstances at the club. He added that the security situation in their current base has stabilized to the point where air raid sirens are rarely heard.
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