When Ukraine voted for independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Dynamo Kyiv emerged as the country’s footballing powerhouse, winning 11 of the first 13 Ukrainian Premier League titles.

Shakhtar’s first title came in 2002 but, since Palkin’s arrival in 2004, they have become Ukraine’s major force at home and abroad, winning the league 15 times and the Uefa Cup in 2009.

Being prolific in the Brazilian market helped. Between 2005 and 2009 Fernandinho, Jadson, Willian, Ilsinho, Elano and Luiz Adriano arrived and thrived in Donetsk, with only the departed Elano not featuring in the Uefa Cup-winning side.

Douglas Costa and Alex Teixeira joined the following year as Shakhtar’s recruitment continued to deliver, complementing those South American acquisitions with talents closer to home such as Armenia’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

“When we stayed in Donetsk it was quite easy to do this transfer policy,” explains Palkin. “We had peace in our country, an unbelievable football infrastructure and for us to sign any talent from any country was very easy.

“When we bring in a player, when he sees what kind of stadium we have, our training camp, the city, everybody signs the next day.

“Our success was in making decisions quite quickly. A lot of times we won [despite] competition from Manchester United, Arsenal, a lot of top European clubs, because we made decisions very quickly when we detected talents and made a decision to buy.”

In August 2009, with Beyonce performing on the opening night, Shakhtar unveiled their state-of-the-art, 52,000-capacity Donbas Arena. Just months after their historic continental triumph, the club were establishing themselves as one of the most competitive in Europe both on and off the field.

The stadium was also a key venue in the 2012 European Championship, hosting Spain’s semi-final win over Portugal. But two years later, it was empty.

In July 2014, six Shakhtar players refused to return to Donetsk following a friendly in France after pro-Russian rebels took control of the city. Among them were Costa, Teixeira and Fred.

They eventually returned once Shakhtar took the decision to relocate more than 600 miles west to use Kyiv as a training base, while playing games in Lviv.

There were, however, a handful of former players who wished to remain in Donetsk under the DPR, including former captain Viktor Zvyagintsev, who was on a Ukraine government website listing people it accused of terrorism by association with separatist rebels.

“When we left Donetsk it was very difficult,” explains Palkin, who last visited eight years ago. “We lost our local fans, we lost our beautiful stadium, because at that moment it was one of the best stadiums in Europe. We lost our city, we lost our [training] camp.

“The situation became tougher and tougher. It is today almost impossible to communicate with people that are there.”

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN has pulled out of the Northern Ireland Open.

The seven-time world champion made the move due to medical reasons.

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The Belfast event started yesterday.

But O’Sullivan‘s withdrawal marks the third straight tournament he has missed out on.

It comes after he sat out the British Open and the Wuhan Open.

The World Snooker Tour confirmed the news on Sunday.

As a result of the withdrawal, his first-round opponent, Long Zehuang, was handed a bye into the round of 32.

The Rocket had lost three previous Northern Ireland Open finals to Judd Trump between 2018 and 2020.

O’Sullivan had also withdrawn from last year’s event due to medical reasons.

The world No5 has not played competitively since being knocked out of the first round of the English Open on 17 September – which saw him harshly brand himself “useless” and “embarrassing”.

O’Sullivan has hinted at retirement several times this year.

He recently announced a new side hustle by opening a snooker academy in Saudi Arabia.

O’Sullivan also revealed how he would have pursued a career in motorsport if he never pursued a career in snooker.

You can find all the latest updates on the Northern Ireland Open by reading SunSport’s snooker blog HERE.

Inside Ronnie’s colourful career

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FROM his lightning breaks to blasts at officials, Ronnie O’Sullivan has fired snooker into the spotlight.

Great Britain’s Lewis Gibson and Lilah Fear won gold in the ice dance at Skate America in the first ISU Grand Prix of the season.

The pair beat defending ISU world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates from the United States by a fraction of a point in Allen, Texas, while Spain’s Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck finished third.

In January, Gibson and Fear won silver for a second consecutive year in the ice dance at the European Figure Skating Championships.

“We were so proud to be up there on the podium. It was definitely a heartwarming moment, especially to be surrounded by our amazing team-mates,” said Fear of the other two pairs she trains alongside.

Gibson and Fear led after the rhythm dance and finished second in the free dance for an overall score of 206.38 points, with Chock and Bates second on 205.63.

The six-leg Grand Prix series continues on Friday with Skate Canada in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

FANS were left squirming after an ice hockey star appeared to snap his bent finger back into place during a game.

The incident occurred during the American Hockey League clash between the Laval Rocket and Syracuse Crunch on Friday.

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Rocket left wing Vincent Arseneau was left with a gruesome injury after a brawl with Crunch star Kale Kessy.

Officials had to separate the pair before either of them fell to the ice, with one of Arseneau’s fingers appearing to be bent the other way afterwards.

The 32-year-old could then be seen snapping it back into place as he made his way to the penalty box.

Despite attempting to correct his injury, the Canadian did not return to the action as his side went on to win 5-2.

He also missed the rematch between the two teams on Saturday, which the Rocket also won 1-0.

Fans were left stunned by the incident on social media after Friday’s clash.

Reacting on X, one supporter wrote: “That’s a hockey player right there.”

Another added: “Tell me you’re a hockey player without telling me you’re a hockey player.”

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Meanwhile, a third fan also commented: “I did not need this visual.”

The Rocket, an affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens, are in action once again this weekend.

They take on the Utica Comets at home on Friday before facing them away the following day.

It is not yet known whether Arseneau will make his return to the ice in either of those games.

With Andy Farrell set to name his Ireland squad for next month’s four Test matches on Wednesday, Stockdale is expected to be included in the panel for games against New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji and Australia.

Whether he can displace Leinster’s James Lowe on the left wing for what would be a first cap since before the last World Cup will be another matter.

Either way, Stockdale feels he has done all he can to put himself in the frame

“Whether I play or not, obviously I want to, don’t get me wrong, but it doesn’t really matter to a certain degree as I’m doing what I can out on the pitch at the moment.

“I feel like I’m doing everything I can to warrant getting an opportunity.

“If it doesn’t come, it doesn’t come but I’m feeling good.”

Indeed, perhaps the only way he could be preparing for Ireland camp in a better frame of mind would be if he was coming in off a career hat-trick.

Between his first and second scores against Ospreys on Friday night, he had dotted down once more only to have the try chalked off by the TMO for a forward pass after both the conversion and restart.

“I was a bit unhappy, to say the least,” he said.

“It seems a bit crazy to me to hit the conversion and hit the restart and then get brought back for the TMO.

“Where does it end? Is it going to be at a point where we’re 15 minutes later and someone says, ‘oh, that try you scored earlier doesn’t count anymore’.

“I don’t know, fair enough if it’s forward, but it needs to be called earlier.”