By the end of the night, it was a full-blown party. Shakhtar Donetsk ultras, sporting the club’s orange-and-black colours, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the wider Ukrainian diaspora, whether they were old or young, male or female, friends or family. The nation’s blue-and-yellow flag, the symbol of a long-fought battle beyond these shores, waved highest, conspicuous at every turn. Rarely, you suspect, had sections L8-11 in the lower tier of the Matthew Harding Stand felt quite so uplifting. And there was no doubt: this was the place to be if you were a Ukrainian in London.
All of them were simply looking for a good time. And they got one. Frankly, who can begrudge any of them that?
