The attention was not trivial, and it is a credit to Manchester City. While the captain’s armband was initially to be worn by the Brazilian Fernandinho during the eighth final of the FA Cup on Tuesday in Peterborough (2-0 victory), the Mancunian club finally decided to give it up to its Ukrainian international, Oleksandr Zinchenko.
The Ukrainian International (48 caps) is not systematically in Pep Guardiola’s team compositions (15 appearances this season, in all competitions). As his country suffered an invasion launched by Russia, the full-back or midfielder was preferred to Fernandinho or Ilkay Gündogan, also holders, to assume this role.
Saturday, during the match at Everton, Zinchenko and his compatriot Vitaliy Mykolenko, who has been playing for the Toffees since this winter, greeted each other and gave a warm hug in the center circle during the warm-up, applauded by the public at Goodison Park. The Citizen was then filmed with tears in his eyes on the bench, shortly before kick-off.
The City player has already worn the armband with his national team. He even became the youngest Ukrainian captain in history in an official match, during the 2022 World Cup qualifier against France in March last year (1-1).
