Whilst most of the world is excited to see the return of the Champions League on Tuesday, Bayern Munich are worried about issues that transcend football and a mere 90-minute game.
The Bundesliga giants will be traveling to Ukraine, a place torn apart by war and fighting, making it difficult for players from the German club to soley focus on the beautiful game. This was reflected by comments made by Pep Guardiola, who had this to say about the situation in Ukraine:
“Of course I'm worried, but first of all, what worries me the most is the situation the locals are enduring. That's the thing that's been going around in my mind," the Spanish manager confessed.
This message was also conveyed by Bayern president Karl-Heinz Rumenigge and the players alike, who expressed concern for the status quo in the eastern European nation, with the conflict having claimed thousands of lives so far.
Bayern to travel to war-torn Ukraine to lock horns with Shakhtar Donetsk in the UCL
Now, in a wonderful act of generosity, the Bavarians have made an oath to pay for the medical bills of 30 Ukrainian boys wounded by the conflict, which includes their hospital stay and surgeries, as reported by BILD.
BILD: #Bayern pay the costs for hospital stays, surgeries and medicines of 30 children in the war-torn Ukraine. A great heart from Bayern!
— Toni Le (@lupin5) February 17, 2015
The arena of Tuesday's game, a round of 16 affair, was intended to be a home encounter for Shakhtar. However, after damage sustained to the Ukrainian Premier League giants' home ground due to shelling, the match has been moved from the Donbass Arena to Arena Lviv.
Mircea Lucescu's crew head into the tie boasting this season's top scorer, Luiz Adriano. The striker has found the back of the net a whopping nine times in the group stage, but will come up against a stern defense in the form of Bayern.
Guardiola's men, who topped Group E with 15 points, have scored 15 goals and have only conceded 4 in the competition, and are thus favorites to beat Shakhtar and make the Champions League quarter-finals.
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