After his first of two goals for Atalanta on Thursday in the Europa League knockout stage, Ukraine international Ruslan Malinovskyi revealed a shirt underneath his jersey that read, “No war in Ukraine.”
In the 66th minute, Malinovskyi took a pass next to the penalty spot and rocketed a shot into the upper corner of the goal to double Atalanta's lead. The 28-year-old midfielder then lifted his jersey to reveal an undershirt in support of his home nation, which has been under attack from Russia.
Malinovskyi devastated Olympiakos with his left foot, scoring two goals for Atalanta in a 3–0 win that helped his side advance to the last 16 on a 5–1 aggregate. The second was just as clinical as his first, with Malinovskyi curling his shot into the opposite corner from distance.
Malinovskyi came up through the Shakhtar Donetsk system before also playing for Ukrainian sides Sevastopol and Zorya Luhansk. While at Belgian side Genk, he made his Ukraine senior debut and has since recorded 45 caps and six goals.
Malinovskyi's national teammate Roman Yaremchuk made a similar gesture in support of Ukraine on Wednesday in Champions League. After his equalizer for Benfica against Ajax, Yaremchuk removed his jersey to reveal the Ukrainian coat of arms.
Earlier Thursday, Ukrainian teammate Oleksandr Zinchenko issued a death wish to Russian president Vladimir Putin in an Instagram post that was later removed. According to The Independent, the Manchester City wingback wrote, “I hope you die the most painful suffering death, creature.”
Solidarity was found elsewhere across the Europa League on Thursday, too. Before its Europa League game against Sevilla, Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb supporters displayed a sign that read "Support to the people of Ukraine."
Meanwhile, Barcelona and Napoli players joined together to hold up a sign that said "STOP WAR" before their Europa League second-leg match in Italy.
