Fred returns to Donetsk

Fred returns to Donetsk

Updated 14 minutes ago


The Brazilian striker Fred has returned to Ukrainian football champions Shakhtar Donetsk, with the club saying they also expect his compatriot Ismaily to follow him back shortly.

The two Brazilians were among six South Americans who refused to return to Shakhtar after a Malaysian Airlines plane was shot down by ground-to-air missiles in eastern Ukraine last week, killing all 298 people on board.

Fred and Ismaily, along with fellow Brazilians Douglas Costa, Alex Teixeira and Dentinho, and Argentine striker Facundo Ferreira, refused to travel from France to Ukraine following a friendly against Lyon on Saturday.

Shakhtar CEO Sergei Palkin said yesterday they were moving their headquarters to Kyiv and would play their Champions League and domestic games in the western city of Lviv to escape from Ukraine’s strife-torn east.

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