Roman Yaremchuk The Hero As Ukraine Come Back To Beat Slovakia At Euro 2024

Roman Yaremchuk emerged from the bench to score the winning goal as Ukraine produced a stirring fightback to beat Slovakia 2-1 and kickstart their Euro 2024 campaign on Friday. Slovakia knew victory in Duesseldorf would take them through to the knockout stage with a game to spare and they went ahead on 17 minutes thanks to Ivan Schranz, who netted the winner in the shock victory over Belgium in their opening game. Ukraine came into this match reeling after losing 3-0 to Romania last time out but they dug deep here and equalised through Mykola Shaparenko nine minutes after half-time.

Shaparenko, of Dynamo Kyiv, then turned provider for Yaremchuk to score the decisive goal as Ukraine joined Slovakia and Romania on three points in a wide-open Group E.

Romania play Belgium, who are bottom without a point, on Saturday in Frankfurt before the final round of matches next Wednesday.

Like they had before their first game against the Romanians, the Ukraine players emerged onto the sodden pitch in rainy Duesseldorf with Ukrainian flags draped over their shoulders.

They are present at the tournament amid the ongoing war in their homeland and it was impossible to avoid the political narrative to this match in particular.

Slovakia shares a border with Ukraine but the country's populist Prime Minister Robert Fico -– who survived being shot in an assassination attempt last month -– is an opponent of military aid to the Ukrainians in its fight against the Russian invasion.

Last weekend Peter Pellegrini was sworn in as Slovakia's new President after a campaign dominated by divisions over the war in Ukraine.

His predecessor, Zuzana Caputova, was a staunch Ukraine supporter, but Pellegrini is an ally of Fico and in favour of peace