The Brazilian soccer players who fulfilled in Ukraine the dream of playing professionally in Europe are gradually returning to their homeland after hectic days and a travel odyssey with stops in several countries.
The Russian invasion of the Ukraine, on the 24th, also caught them by surprise.
They reacted quickly, they met in a hotel in Kiev.
The video in which a dozen players, their wives and their children asked for help from the authorities, their compatriots and whoever it was to get out of there safe and sound made a war so distant and, in principle, so foreign touch the fiber of the Brazilians.
Some 40 Brazilian-born footballers made a living in Ukrainian football, 31 of them in the first division.
They left their adopted country as soon as they could while the sports world expelled Russia from the World Cup in Qatar, the Paralympics and a long list of European competitions in multiple disciplines.
Midfielder Maycon, 24, from Shakhtar Donetsk, was the first to land on Brazilian soil.
The last few days have been for his family and for him “a mixture of feelings, of terror, of fear.
Then a feeling of relief, of gratitude for being able to leave everyone and everyone well, ”he explained to the local press as soon as he disembarked at the São Paulo international airport on Tuesday.
Four years Maycon had been playing in the Ukraine, where he lived with his wife and his son.
Like millions of Ukrainians and foreigners who worked there, from one day to the next the open war ordered by Vladimir Putin forced him to flee practically with what he was wearing and has put his professional career on hold.
The Donetsk club, a favorite destination for Brazilian soccer players in the European country, had 13 of them in its ranks.
It is the most successful team in European competitions and the country's sufferer so far this century.
It had to leave its headquarters in Dontsk, a city located in the separatist provinces, because of the civil war that preceded this invasion eight years ago.
Ten other clubs in the Ukrainian league have at least one player born in Brazil, a major exporter of soccer talent.
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The case that was emerging as more complicated was that of striker Junior Moraes, 34 years old and with dual nationality, Brazilian and Ukrainian.
Nationalized in 2019, he has played with the national team of his adopted country, where he arrived a decade ago.
The order by which the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, prohibited men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country suggested that he would not be able to leave the country and could even be called to fight the Russians, but he finally managed to cross the border and after a journey he finds himself in Paris.
Last Monday, after crossing the border with several Brazilian players, Junior Moraes emulated several of his colleagues in the Ukrainian national team and made a donation to the Zelensky government to care for those affected by the war.
The striker, who has played more than ten games for the European team, contributed 1.6 million hryvnias ($53,000).
The entry of the first tanks sent by Putin into the neighboring country was as shocking for Brazilians as it was for most Ukrainians.
Everyone had been watching the drums of war for weeks, but they did not imagine an invasion of this magnitude with Russian forces striking from various directions and closing in on the capital.
“It caught us a bit by surprise.
We knew about the risk, but we had a lot of information and we did not believe it was this way, ”Maycon said at the São Paulo airport after arriving with his family.
The first group of soccer players and their relatives managed to leave the Kiev hotel for the border on Sunday.
They had the help of UEFA, the Ukrainian Football Federation to be able to move safely.
And Brazilian authorities helped with logistics at a time when trains heading to western Ukraine were full.
With the airports closed, they traveled by train to Chernivtsi (Ukraine), from there they took a bus to Moldova, where they split up.
Some stayed to fly from there while others had to continue to Romania to find flights.
By different routes they have been arriving in Brazil these days.
Since they asked for help in that video that brought the war in one fell swoop to Brazilian cell phones and TVs, their absolute priority was to get to Brazil.
They leave the war behind, but also their careers, colleagues and friends who may be called up or join the resistance.
Striker Pedrinho, full-back Dodo, defender Marlon and physical trainer Luciano Rosa are already safe in their country.
For now, no one wants to talk about football, about their future.
“Now is not the time to talk about it,” said Dodo, who has a contract with Shakhtar Donetsk until 2025. “I just want to enjoy my family.
And support Ukraine because it is a country that I love.
I leave the rest to my agents, because I just got out of a war and it's not the time to think about football”.
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