The odyssey of a Catalan footballer fleeing Ukraine

Being woken up by bombs, rushing to a bunker, and then beginning a 27-hour road journey to the border with Romania is the short version of probably the most chaotic couple of days in the life of Catalan footballer Marc Gual. He plays for the Ukrainian team SC Dnipro-1 and was forced to flee the country after the beginning of the Russian invasion last week. Speaking with Catalan News already home in Badalona, he says that “it was two days but felt like a full week.”

The mayor of the city welcomed him in the town hall upon his arrival. Gual explained that after being woken up by two bombs, the group went to his club’s training ground, which has an underground bunker. “The first two bombs took us by surprise when we were half-asleep, but on our way to the training ground, in the open air, another one hit. It felt like it hit just behind me,” he explains. “At that moment, we realized we do have to flee.” Gual and his teammates then went to the hotel where SC Dnipro-1’s president was staying and they all slept there, as it was “a quieter area.”

The morning afterwards, at around 5am, the foreigners in the team began their journey to the border with Romania with five cars arranged by the club. “We managed to cross the border 27 hours later. It was two days but felt like a full week,” he admits.  During their journey, they witnessed all kind of Kafkaesque scenes. “We saw desperate people trying to leave their houses, hours-long queues on the road, moving 2 km in 4 hours…”

Return to normal?

The Catalan footballer saw military convoys, packed oil stations, and stopped to buy food whenever he found some in order to make sure he would not run out of it. “If you found a place where you could buy things, you would buy anything as you would not know how long you would be traveling for.”

While he is safe home, his Ukrainian teammates cannot leave the country since they are eligible to be sent to war. Gual remains in touch with them and is trying to think up ways to help them and send them food and other essential material, especially to fight current cold temperatures. Besides, he says they are sheltering from potential attacks but that they need bullet-proof vests to be safer. “We hope this ends soon and that it ends well,” he says, also wishing to return to normal soon, given that he is now in Badalona waiting for the situation to end.