Everton and Manchester City paid a heartfelt tribute to Ukraine for the war ahead of their match at Goodison Park. Both teams have felt the conflict more closely due to the presence in their squads of two Ukrainian players: Mykolenko by the locals and Zinchenko, as a visiting footballer.
The two were substitutes and the performance showed them in a plane, where they were seen moved by the tribute and with the suffering of what is happening in their native country. All the Everton players came out with a Ukrainian flag on their backswhile City chose to wear a tracksuit with the flag on the front and back.
All this despite the fact that Alisher Usmanov, one of the main sponsors of the liverpulian club is, together with Roman Abramovich owner of Chelsea, under the watchful eye of the British parliament, which is considering sanctioning them for their links with Vladimir Putin. On the other hand, the property of the Manchester City es de Sheik Mansour, Prime Minister and member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi, one of Saudi Arabia’s allies in the war in Yemen.
Zinchenko and Mykolenko coincided in the warm-up and merged into an emotional hug, with tears on both their faces. Goodison Park applauded that salute and then, moments before kick-off, gave thunderous applause for a minute to show support for Ukraine. These are some of the exciting images left by the duel preview:
Reuters