Valencia striker, Roman Yaremchuk scored the crucial winner for Ukraine as they bravely fought back from a goal down to beat Slovakia and keep their Euro 2024 campaign alive.
The 28-year-old was alert to Mykola Shaparenko’s ball over the top and finished smartly after being on the pitch for just 13 minutes to help Ukraine secure a 2-1 comeback victory.
A brilliant touch allowed him to delicately nudge the ball past Slovakia goalkeeper Martin Dubravka into the bottom left corner from six yards out.
Ukraine trailed just 17th minutes into the game after Ivan Schranz scored to put Slovakia in front, before Ukraine came back to seal a huge victory.
Shaparenko had equalised for Ukraine in the 54th minute from close range following Oleksandr Zinchenko’s cross, before Yaremchuk made sure of three priceless points with ten minutes left.
It is the first time Ukraine have come from behind to win a match at the Euros since a 2-1 victory against Sweden in 2012.
The victory sees Ukraine move level on points with opponents Slovakia, and Romania who faces Belgium in their second group-stage match on Saturday.
Anatolii Trubin who replaced Real Madrid goalkeeper, Andriy Lunin, made two crucial saves in the opening 10 minutes of the game with Ukraine having a not-so-good first half.
He denied Lukas Haraslin’s low-angled finish with his legs and then thwarted Schranz from close range.
Trubin was called into action again, saving David Hancko’s free-kick which he palmed out for a throw-in.
Ukraine paid for their slow start to the game when Hancko took the resulting set-piece and found Haraslin who got in behind the Ukraine defence with ease and swung in a cross which was pounced upon by Schranz.
Chelsea winger, Mykhailo Mudryk struggled to impose himself on the game in the first half and had a wild shot when through on goal.
However, he did improve and passed to Artem Dovbyk who performed some clever footwork in the box with his shot at the near post blocked by Peter Pekarik.
Ukraine’s showed a spirited second-half display as they kept pushing after Shaparenko’s equaliser and were rewarded when Yaremchuk sealed the victory, becoming just the second Ukrainian substitute to score at a major tournament.
Ukraine paid for their slow start to the game when Hancko took the resulting set-piece and found Haraslin who got in behind the Ukraine defence with ease and swung in a cross which was pounced upon by Schranz.
Chelsea winger, Mykhailo Mudryk struggled to impose himself on the game in the first half and had a wild shot when through on goal.
However, he did improve and passed to Artem Dovbyk who performed some clever footwork in the box with his shot at the near post blocked by Peter Pekarik.
Ukraine’s showed a spirited second-half display as they kept pushing after Shaparenko’s equaliser and were rewarded when Yaremchuk sealed the victory, becoming just the second Ukrainian substitute to score at a major tournament.
