Roberto De Zerbi says that he woke up to the noise of bombs last night but remained in Ukraine to not turn his back on Shakhtar fans and players.
The Italian tactician is currently at a hotel in Kyiv along with his staff and some Shakhtar players.
“I am staying in my room. Today is not a good day,” De Zerbi told Sportitalia.
“I’ve been waiting for the federation to suspend the season until this happened. However, I didn’t move. I am here to do sport and I could not turn my back on the fans. There are 13 Brazilian players here and my staff. We could have returned home, but we preferred to wait. Last night we woke up to the noise of explosions.”
Ukraine has closed its airspace to civilian flights so De Zerbi can no longer leave the country.
“There are no heroes here, but our job puts us in front of responsibilities. We were supposed to play on Saturday, so I could not run away,” he continued.
“It’s something difficult to explain to our loved ones who have texted us, asking us to return. At this point, we hope that the Government and the embassy will help us. I am optimistic and If I could go back in time, I’d make the same choice.”