Andriy Yarmolenko in unflinching Russia Euro 2024 ban verdict as Ukraine star targets more 'joy' against Scotland

It's 112 days since Andriy Yarmolenko opened the scoring in one of the most emotionally charged international football matches ever played at Hampden. That World Cup play-off semi-final would end in victory - and tears - for Ukraine.

And most of world football cried with them as war raged on back in their homeland. Returning to the national stadium last night Yarmolenko was quick to remind everyone that nothing has changed in the three-and-a-half months since that 3-1 defeat of Steve Clarke ’s side.

His country remains in a relentless war against their Russian aggressors with casualties being taken by the day - even if it doesn’t top the news agendas across the globe on a daily basis like it did back then. Football remains little more than a 90-minute distraction for his people back home. Yet the big winger also knows that for that hour-and-a-half it can also be one of the strongest weapons for bringing joy to those people caught up in a living hell.

He said: “Nothing has changed since last time. We still have war in Ukraine and we want to bring joy to the Ukraine fans so we are going to play for our country, our people, everyone who is living these days in our country.

“We want to distract the Ukranian people from war, from all this terror and incredible hard situation. The team wants to bring a smile at least for 90 minutes to the faces of Ukrainians back home.”

Yarmolenko’s pre-match press conference came just hours after UEFA banned Russia from Euro 2024. The 32-year-old former West Ham forward wasn’t holding back as he called on the sporting world to continue to isolate Vladimir Putin’s country.

He said: “My thoughts are quite simple. Russian football, Russian sport, should be totally isolated. This is a