Roman Yaremchuk scored a crucial winner for Ukraine as they bravely fought back from behind to beat Slovakia and keep their Euro 2024 campaign alive.
The Valencia striker had been on the pitch for 13 minutes when he gave his side the lead. Yaremchuk was alert to Mykola Shaparenko’s ball over the top and finished smartly.
A brilliant touch allowed him to delicately nudge the ball past Slovakia goalkeeper Martin Dubravka into the bottom left corner from six yards out.
Ivan Schranz scored after 17 minutes to put Slovakia in front, with his second goal in as many games, before Ukraine came back to seal a huge victory.
Shaparenko equalised for Ukraine in the 54th minute, sweeping home from close range following Oleksandr Zinchenko’s cross, before Yaremchuk made sure of three priceless points ten minutes from time.
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.Ukraine move level on points with opponents Slovakia and Romania, who play their second group-stage match against Belgium today.
Serhii Rebrov’s side were below par in the first half, despite creating plenty of chances.
The decision to drop Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin was vindicated in the opening 10 minutes when replacement Anatolii Trubin made two crucial saves. 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. 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.
Mykhailo Mudryk initially struggled to impose himself on the game and had a wild shot when through on goal. 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.
However, Ukraine’s second-half showing highlighted the fighting spirit in their side as they kept going after Shaparenko’s equaliser and were rewarded when Yaremchuk sealed the victory, becoming just the second Ukrainian substitute to score at a major tournament.
There were emotional scenes at full-time with Yaremchuk in tears as the Ukrainian players applauded their fans after a much-needed victory.
