This is one of the images from Tuesday evening in the Football Nations League. A strong, moving and symbolic image. We were playing the 5th minute of the match against Albania when Ukrainian midfielder Oleksandr Zinchenko opened the scoring. He immediately ran towards his sidelines where a jersey was thrown at him which he unfurled.
This tunic was adorned with the number “1000”, to mark the thousand days since the Russian aggression against his country. The player asked his partners to join him.
Shortly before, the Ukrainian Football Federation had published on its X account a photo of the “1000” jersey hanging in the team’s locker room, with the caption: “1000 days of battle and sacrifice”.
Marking the thousandth day of war on Tuesday, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying: “Ukraine will never submit to the occupiers and Russian servicemen will be punished for violating international law.”
Ukraine won the match played in Tirana, Albania, 2-1 to move into second place in Nations League B Group 1, behind the Czech Republic.
