Oleksandr Zinchenko Vitaliy Mykolenko share emotional embrace as Everton, Man City show support for Ukraine

Zinchenko Everton
(Image credit: Getty)

Ukraine team-mates Oleksandr Zinchenko and Vitaliy Mykolenko embraced each other before Everton faced Manchester City on Saturday, clearly shook up by the invasion of their home country.

The two players hugged in the warm-up before the game, which Manchester City won 1-0 thanks to a late strike from Phil Foden.

They were then overcome with emotion as they took their places on their respective substitutes' benches.

Zinchenko, who lashed out against Vladimir Putin this week on Instagram after Russia launched airstrikes across Ukraine, was seen in tears at the tributes towards his country from both sides.

City's players wore white t-shirts bearing a symbol of the Ukrainian flag above the words " NO WAR", while Everton's players ran out of the tunnel holding Ukraine flags.

And instead of the Premier League's normal anthem, Everton played the 1969 song  'He ain't heavy, he's my brother' by The Hollies.

Both players ended up watching the whole game from the bench, with neither called upon by their managers.

Earlier in the day, Aston Villa's Matty Cash unveiled a message of support to his Poland team-mate Tomasz Kedziora, who plays for Dynamo Kyiv and is currently stranded in Ukraine.

Cash was shown a yellow card for the gesture.

Richard Martin is an experienced football writer, editor and social media producer. Before returning to London, he spent 10 years in Spain as a football correspondent and has attended over 600 games across 16 countries, his favourite being Argentina. He has also worked for Reuters, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Times and AS.