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Oleksandr Zinchenko broke into tears in the night before his teams significant World Cup qualifier match with Scotland and said he believed above everything should see peace in his country.
Ukraine, which has been desolated by war since Russia’s attack in February, face Scotland at Hampden Park on Wednesday and assuming they dominate that match they will proceed to take on Wales in Cardiff on Sunday for a spot in the finals in Qatar in November.
Although, Zinchenko, who plays for Premier League champions Manchester City, said the possibility of World Cup capability was auxiliary to the main expectation of his comrades.
“Every Ukrainian wants one thing — to stop this war. I spoke to people from different countries, all over the world and I spoke to some Ukrainian kids who just don’t understand what’s happening back in Ukraine,” he said.
“They only want the war to stop they have one dream to stop the war. When it comes to football, the team, we have our own dream. We want to go to the World Cup, want to give these incredible emotions to the Ukrainians because they deserve it so much at this very moment,” he said.
Zinchenko has shown his emotions on and off the pitch since the clash started and, sat in a hall with his coach Oleksandr Petrakov, it was clear it keeps on affecting on him.
“It’s impossible to describe these feelings until you are not in this position. The things which are happening now in our country, it’s not acceptable. It’s something which I cannot even describe,” he said.
“So that’s why we need to stop this aggression altogether and we need to win because Ukraine is a country of freedom. Ukraine is never going to give up,” he added.
“But the thing is, which I would like to say as well that a lot of countries maybe don’t understand that — today it is Ukraine but tomorrow it can be you. So that’s why we need to be united and need to defeat aggression altogether,” he added.
The match with Scotland was delayed from its scheduled date in March and Zinchenko is certain that there will be tremendous interest at home.
“I am sure that the whole of Ukraine will be watching us. We will feel the support. We can talk a lot, but we need to prove everything on the field. We will try to make our people happy and proud,” he said.
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