Still this rule is valid if the battle was fair. Events which took place on August 4 in Donetsk on the pitch of Donbas Arena didn’t respond this principle.
Curtain-raiser
Dynamo official website journalist witnessed Ukrainian National Reserve League match between Shakhtar and Dynamo reservists which took place on August 3. Home side squad was announced in Russian while Kyivans’ starting line-up was announced in Ukrainian. It must have influenced spectators’ mood positively as they started expressing their hatred of Kyiv with a help of chants.
Television
The game between Shakhtar and Dynamo was broadcasted by two TV channels – Ukraine and Football. The majority of spectators chose the first one. Match commentators Serhiy Panasiuk and expert Olexandr Sopko tried not to pay attention to referee’s challenged decisions, starting to discuss following episode at once. Here’s what they told about Rakytskyi’s foul against Mbokani inside the penalty area: “Anyway…Mbokani didn’t foul!”.
Atmosphere
As home side opened the score, fans burned up flares. Thus smoke covered the stadium.
The announced was speaking Russian despite the fact that it was the game within the Ukrainian Premier League!
After the game Lucescu made a following statement via his Moldavian interpreter:
- I am upset as the stadium can be disqualified because of such actions of fans!
