flags, banners, delayed match… The world of football shows its support for the Ukrainian people

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The world of football has shown solidarity with Ukraine in the conflict between it and Russia. On many grounds, in the four corners of the Old Continent, support actions have multiplied. In Ligue 1, the Stade de Reims symbolically delayed the kick-off of its match against Monaco, whose owners are Russian, by five minutes on Sunday February 27.

“We had to symbolically show that we totally disagreed with Russia’s acts of war there.“, explained the president of Reims Jean-Pierre Caillot at the microphone of Prime Video before the meeting. Reims may have taken inspiration from Italy, where every Serie A game was kicked off five minutes past the scheduled time.

Bordeaux’s Josuha Guilavogui dedicated his goal on the lawn of Clermont to his Ukrainian teammate Danylo Ignatenko. “Very affected” in the week, the midfielder, whose partner is stranded in Ukraine, received the support of his entire club. “We wanted to bring back the victory for Dany”, said coach David Guion afterwards. On the meadow, the Girondins wore a blue and yellow armband.

At the same time, the Metz supporters sent a banner “No war in Ukraine”, taking the step of PSG and Saint-Etienne the day before with the banner “peace for all“worn by the players of the two teams as they entered the lawn. This slogan was also the general watchword of the weekend. In Munich, the Allianz Arena was illuminated on Friday for three hours, in the colors The following day, Polish striker Robert Lewandowski wore a yellow and blue armband, hoping that “the whole world will support” the country. In Germany as in other countries, a minute of silence was observed on each pitch.

Not all Ukrainian players played this weekend. Andriy Lunin (Real Madrid) or Andriy Yarmolenko (West Ham) have for example been preserved by their respective clubs. The Hammers still warmed up in their teammate’s jersey. A message was also broadcast on the luminous panel of the Olympic Stadium, addressing “prayers” at “Yarmolenko and the Ukrainian people”.

Other players have been fielded by their teams. Ole Zinchenko (Manchester City) and Vitaliy Mykolenko (Everton), opposites on Saturday, embraced during the warm-up to the applause of Goodison Park. The actors of this meeting entered the meadow with Ukrainian flags on their backs. The left side of the Citizens appeared in tears on the bench.

At Benfica, Ukrainian Roman Yaremchuk was the center of attention during his team’s game against Guiumareas on Sunday. The international with 36 caps entered the game in the 63rd minute, taking the captain’s armband and causing an ovation from the entire Estadio de la Luz, and a very strong emotion on his part. The Portuguese club then tweeted a video of this very special pre-match for its player with 36 selections, with the word “Unidos” and the Ukrainian flag.

The Ukrainian player had unveiled under his Benfica tunic a shirt with the national emblem of Ukraine a few days before, celebrating his goal against Ajax Amsterdam, in the Champions League.


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