Ukraine international Roman Yaremchuk was moved to tears after a powerful show of support from Benfica fans on Sunday amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of his homeland.
The striker was named as a substitute for the Primeira Liga match against Vitoria Guimaraes on Sunday evening, introduced as a second-half replacement for Darwin Nunez.
Yaremchuk was handed the captain’s armband by ex-Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen before running onto the pitch to huge sustained cheers and applause from the fans in attendance at the 65,647-capacity Estadio da Luz, many of whom waved flags and placards in support of Ukraine with ‘Stop the War’ messages.
The 26-year-old was clearly extremely grateful for the support and was moved to tears by the emotional scenes in Lisbon.
🇺🇦 This moment... Speachless! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/EpgNydnZer
— SL Benfica (@slbenfica_en) February 27, 2022
Former Dynamo Kiev forward Yaremchuk - who hails from the city of Lviv in western Ukraine - joined Benfica from Belgian club Gent last summer after impressing at the European Championship and has scored 12 goals in 36 senior international caps for his country to date.
Last week, he celebrated a goal against Ajax in the Champions League by removing his shirt and revealing a trident symbol - Ukraine’s coat of arms.
The weekend’s domestic football action saw similar expressions of support for Ukrainian players across the continent.
Ukraine team-mates Vitaliy Mykolenko and Oleksandr Zinchenko shared a pre-match embrace before Everton’s Premier League meeting with Manchester City at Goodison Park on Saturday, with shows of support from both sets of players and fans on Merseyside.
West Ham also warmed up in t-shirts expressing support for Andriy Yarmolenko, with Declan Rice also holding up the shirt of the Ukraine winger, who has been granted time off by David Moyes.
