Behdad Iqbali's help to Shakhtar/luxury stadium was mined! (photo)

The new images of Shakhtar Donetsk's former luxury stadium are incredible.

According to Sport Seh, newly released images from Shakhtar Donetsk's home stadium have depicted the depth of destruction and miserable conditions of this luxurious stadium after years of war and unrest. These pictures were published exactly on the night when the representative of Ukraine should have played his home game in the European Champions League in London and Stamford Bridge.

Donbass Arena was opened in 2009 and was one of the main hosts of Euro 2012. Since 2014, following the military conflicts in the Donbas region, it has been banned from hosting football matches, and Shakhtar has hosted its matches in different cities of Ukraine for years. With the escalation of conflicts in 2022, the club held its European games in Poland, Germany and Slovenia, and now for the current Champions League season, it has chosen London's Stamford Bridge Stadium as its temporary home.

The release of pictures by Yuri Butusov has revealed the disastrous condition of this once modern and beautiful stadium. The exterior walls of the stadium were severely damaged and its exterior panels were torn off, to the point where the damage of the internal parts and the rusting of the structure are completely visible from the outside.

The area around the stadium has been turned into an abandoned field with reeds and tall weeds, and a part of it has a danger strip with a sign in Ukrainian that reads: "Do not walk on the grass, caution, possible explosives."

The area that once hosted tens of thousands of spectators and world-famous football stars is now completely desolate and uninhabitable.

Despite all these difficulties, Shakhtar has maintained its fighting spirit. This team, which is currently under the guidance of former Barcelona and Atletico Madrid star Arda Turan, won the championship of the Ukrainian League last season and reached the semi-finals of the European Conference League. On the eve of the match against AAK Athens, Shakhtar CEO Sergey Palkin said about moving the team's games to London, which is 2,000 kilometers away from Kiev: "We decided to move the games to England, because there are many refugees and Ukrainians living in this country. London is the football capital of the world and it gives our young players a double motivation to be at the legendary Stamford Bridge stadium. I spoke with Behdad Iqbali, one of the owners of Chelsea, and offered to play in their stadium, and I was greeted by the professional behavior of the Chelsea club. »

Shakhtar will host Sporting Lisbon, Fenerbahçe and Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge in addition to AAK Athens. The team's players also display the slogan "Invest in Ukraine" on their shirts during European competitions.