Manchester City defender Oleksandr Zinchenko fought back the tears after embracing Vitalii Mykolenko ahead of his side’s Premier League clash with Everton at Goodison Park.
The two Ukrainian stars hugged on the pitch as their sides warmed up for the game on Saturday evening, with the embrace bringing up applause from everyone inside the ground.
The City defender made his way to the halfway line to embrace Everton defender Mykolenko, and after a small chat, the two showed their appreciation for the applause they had received.
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Speaking on the support the pair received, Everton boss Frank Lampard said before the game: "It’s important to show the support, we have a lot of empathy, it’s a people’s club, but I think generally some of the support you’ve seen in the sporting world is fantastic and when you’ve got a player like City do, Vitalii for us, had numerous conversations it was always his to be involved or not.
"He’s never given me the inkling, I think it’s a small release at the moment, the onus is on us to support him and do what we can. There’s not much help for him we can give him than to know we’re there for him.
"Tough time for him but I’m sure both sets of supporters will show big support for those players."
Everton supporters also unveiled a banner in support of Mykolenko and Ukraine ahead of the game, with news coming that the club had offered to fund the costs for it.
The Blues also dropped the pre-match air raid siren that is normally played before both sets of players enter the field of play to Z-Cars.
Everton first introduced the playing of the air raid siren back in 2019 as a way of galvanising the Goodison Park crowd before its traditional Z-Cars theme would play.
Both sets of players also took to the pitch showing their support for Ukraine. City first entered the field of play wearing t-shirts with the Ukrainian flag on and had the words ‘No War’ in both Ukrainian and English.
While Everton's players entered the Goodison pitch with Ukraine flags wrapped around them, and when Z-Cars had finished playing, 'He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother' by The Hollies played just before kick off.
After that hugely emotional moment, reporter Matt Critchley noted: "Tears on the bench from both Mykolenko and Zinchenko as ‘He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother’ plays around Goodison. Hard to possibly imagine what’s going through their minds right now."
Air raid sirens have since been heard going off in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv after President Putin launched what he called a 'special military operation' on the city. The result has been a large-scale invasion of Ukraine and massive backlash from across the international community.
Everton have offered their full support to Mykolenko, who shared an emotional message on his Instagram account regarding the Russian invasion of his homeland on Thursday night.
"I want the whole world to know that the Russian army is now killing civilians in all cities of independent Ukraine," he wrote.
"Russian media writes that they are defending Donetsk and Luhansk, but this is not true! It’s hard to hear the anxious voice of my parents who are looking for an opportunity to protect themselves and help others and I can not help my parents.
"I ask the whole world to help my homeland. I am proud to be Ukrainian. Glory to Ukraine."
