Soccer title races in Ukraine, Turkey defy off-field dangers

Forget about Manchester City and Barcelona for a moment and consider the Ukrainian and Turkish soccer leaguesBoth somewhat amazingly are set to be completed in the next few weeks despite war and disaster and both have big showdown games coming up this month that could decide the titlesThe entire Ukrainian league season has been played in nearempty stadiums in the safer western part of the country despite the constant threat of disruption from sirens alerting of Russian air raidsAlso ReadlsquoWe played better than Man Utdrsquo Brighton bossSomehow the league is only one game behind schedule after 24 of 30 rounds and secondplace Dnipro1 can use that game to close the gap on perennial champion Shakhtar Donetsk to two pointsShakhtar is scheduled to host Dnipro1 at the end of the month in Lviv far from each clubs home city in warravaged eastern UkraineIts a little bit easier than it was in the very beginning Shakhtar official Yuriy Svyrydov told The Associated Press in a telephone interview iquestIts pretty much football as usual now but emotionally we are like a squeezed lemonThe quality of games has fallen Svyrydov said since overseas players were allowed by FIFA to pause their contracts and seek loan moves to clubs elsewhere Fourthplace Dynamo Kyiv is in a relative slump despite coach Mircea Lucescu staying Shakhtars coach last year Roberto De Zerbi left when the war started and has excelled since taking over as coach of Brighton in the Premier LeagueThe leagues international broadcast deal expires next month right after a potential title decider that could ultimately send the winner to the group stage of the Champions LeagueThe Turkish league with traditional rivals Galatasaray and Fenerbahce at the top of the standings stopped for three weeks after a devastating earthquake in February Two of the 19 teams did not resume playingGalatasaray fueled by goals from former Serie A players Mauro Icardi and Dries Mertens leads the league by three points and still has a potentially fierce derby game to hostA title for either Gala or Fener would mean a fourth different winner in four years Another Istanbul club Besiktas is close behind in thirdAt the other end of the standings Gaziantep and Hatayspor did not resume after the earthquake but they have been protected from relegation by the Turkish soccer federationHatayspor forward Christian Atsu a Ghana international who previously played for English clubs Chelsea and Newcastle died when the earthquake struck his home in Antakya near the Syria borderTIGHT RACESTense finishes also seem assured in Belgium and GreecePanathinaikos is tied with AEK Athens at the top of the standings and each team has two games left in the sixteam playoff groupPanathinaikos which hasnt won the Greek title since 2010 leads the headtohead tiebreaker and plays at Olympiakos on Sunday AEK will be at Aris in ThessalonikiBelgium also has a championship playoff group and three of the four teams Genk Antwerp and Union SaintGilloise are in contentionSparta Prague starts the fiveteam playoffs in the Czech Republic two points ahead of Slavia Prague Sparta which last won the title nine years ago hosts the city derby on May 13The runaway leader in Poland could be a firsttime league champion Rakoacutew Czestochowa is 11 points ahead of Legia Warsaw with four games leftSTAR PERFORMERRed Star Belgrade dominates like no other club in any other country Already champion again in the Serbian league Red Star can reach 100 points for the third straight season if it wins its last four gamesThe 1991 European champions also restored their status internationally Three years ago Red Star completed the rare feat of advancing through four Champions League qualifying rounds to reach the group stage in backtoback seasonsSerbia is now ranked high enough by UEFA so Red Star will go directly to the group stage partly because Russian clubs have been excluded The spot that would have gone to Zenit St Petersburg will go to Red Star whose longtime shirt sponsor until last year was Zenit owner GazpromTHROWBACK LOOKRed Star is helping to give the likely Champions League lineup a throwback look with several winners of the old European Cup the name of the competition before it was rebranded and reformatted in 1992Feyenoord the 1970 European champion leads by eight points in the Netherlands with four games left It would be the clubs first league title since 2017 and only a second appearance in the group stage of the Champions League in 20 yearsFeyenoord won its European title by beating another former champion Celtic The 1967 champions from Scotland will return to the group stage when an inevitable league title is sealedCeltic has won 30 of 33 games in the Scottish league and is 13 points ahead of Rangers with five games leftMORE QUALIFIERSSalzburg is on track for another Austrian league title and one of the 26 direct Champions League entries into the 32team group stageNewcastle looks sure to end a 21season absence from the elite stage and 10 years without any European competitions by finishing in the top four in the Premier LeagueUnion Berlin is third in the Bundesliga and on track to make a Champions League debut that has become rare in European soccer Union and Newcastle would be among the lowestseeded teamsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever