By Melody Gross 
At the end of the night Paulo Fonseca landed in Portugal, after a flight to leave Ukraine in a complete invasion of Russia. After 30 hours of travel and passes through Moldova and Romania, the Portuguese coach made no secret of his relief upon his arrival at Humberto Delgado Airport.
“It is a mixture of feelings, on the one hand, I managed to bring my family, but on the other hand they practically left everything there. It’s hard to feel very happy at this moment. I have a great attachment to Ukraine, I used to live there. It was obviously a great relief, but it cost me so much to leave these people behind,” he said, still talking of the trip: “It was a difficult trip, not so much because of what we saw, the columns, the sirens, the planes going by.” The ride was very long, non-stop, but always with that sense of danger, which I think was the worst. The traffic was huge. We stopped at service stations, and there was no more gas or food. It was difficult because of that, but above all because of that constant sense of danger.”
With a strong attachment to Ukraine, Paulo Fonseca, who expressed his thanks to the owner of Shakhtar Donetsk, the Portuguese Embassy and President of the Portuguese Football Federation, also left a word to the Ukrainian people.
“I have no words to describe what is happening in Ukraine, these people who suffer a lot, but fight hard to defend their homeland. The president is the first, and even today [segunda-feira] I saw a big list of people who wanted to join the army. We see many public figures being recruited. What happens is unique. It will be difficult, but I think they have already won the war.”
Finally, Paulo Fonseca left revolutionizing his career. The Portuguese coach has been unemployed since he left Roma in the summer.
“I have forgotten about football now. I will want to go back, I don’t think this season, but at the beginning of next season. But honestly, if there is one thing I haven’t thought of, it is football.”