Rome, February 27, 2022 – Roberto De Zerbi managed to leave Kiev. The former Sassuolo coach, and current coach of Shakhtar Donetskwas blocked by the war that broke out in Ukraine in the Opera hotel in the capital, together with his staff and some Brazilian footballers from the club of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
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Two days ago De Zerbi, reached on the phone by Linus of Radio Deejay, had recounted the dramatic situation in Kiev: “We are in constant contact with the Italian embassy in Kiev. They advised us to stay stop at the hotel for several reasons. The road leading to the borders is blocked, there are long queues. There is talk of 70 km of queue. The supplies of gasoline are insufficient, as are those of food. Traveling is also a matter of survival. Leaving the hotel would be very dangerous”.
Today the coach, with the coach in second position Davide Possanzini and collaborators Michele Cavalli e Giorgio Bianchiand the sports director Carlo Nicolini, managed to get on a train to Lviv, a Ukrainian city on the western border. But before him he made sure that his Brazilian players, the only ones left in the hotel with the Italians, were able to leave Kiev to reach Poland by train.
De Zerbi, Possanzini and the other Italians, arrived in Lviv, could reach them by car or bus Hungary or Poland itself, and from there to return by plane to Italy.