They came down the Rhine, at first in flecks and clumps, then in a yellow and blue torrent from the centre of Dusseldorf to the football ground on the city’s northern edge.
After the Russian invasion in February 2022, the presence of any Ukraine fans in Germany feels improbable. Their domestic league has been shattered, their squad scattered across Europe. And for the first 150 minutes of this tournament, defiant support appeared to be all Ukraine had brought to Euro 2024.
Serhiy Rebrov’s side were desperately poor against Romania. Favourites going in, they were overcome by a rare emotion which was not their own, flat-backed by a deserved 3-0 loss.
On the march from the fan zone to Dusseldorf’s stadium, supporters cared more about the response than the result. They have survived on less potent fuel than spirit over recent months.
“The team is trying to use this opportunity to remind the world about the war,” says Kirill, dressed in a Dynamo Kyiv jersey, Ukraine flag wrapped around his back. “OK, in Germany, there’s a huge party going on, but lots of people can’t watch the football — so they are also like messengers to back home.
Ukraine’s fans descended on Dusseldorf in their thousands (Ozan Kose/AFP via Getty Images)
“Ukrainians are waiting for the national team to bring joy in these dark times. The first game was the opposite of joy, but now everybody hopes they will learn their lesson.
“The strong man is not the one who cannot fall, but the one who can get back up.”
Ukraine has been a nation on the brink for over two years and their football team has made desperation part of their identity. They harry and work, give the ball to their attacking talent and pray.
Mykhailo Mudryk has struggled in the Premier League at Chelsea but has never pretended that anything but the national team is his pinnacle. Georgiy Sudakov, a midfielder he grew up with but who is still at Shakhtar Donetsk, could grow to be even better.
With their final game against group favourites Belgium, only a win here would give Ukraine a realistic opportunity of going through. For the first hour, holding back the Rhine looked more plausible.
GO DEEPER
Slovakia 1 Ukraine 2 – Yaremchuk’s nimble finish, a stirring comeback and the joy of watching Lobotka
Ukraine were disorganised in the early exchanges and dropped into a tight 4-3-2-1 out of possession, which was easily bypassed by Slovakia’s width. Ivan Schranz’s opener, where he caught Oleksandr Zinchenko unaware with a classic blindside winger’s run, exposed their narrowness.
Rebrov had opted to drop Real Madrid’s Champions League-winning goalkeeper Andriy Lunin after a poor mistake against Albania, but his replacement, Benfica’s Anatoliy Trubin, could arguably have scrambled Schranz’s header away.
But the first hour of the game was about more than the goal — Slovakia were superior throughout, with Ukraine harried mercilessly by midfielder Stanislav Lobotka. At one point, the Napoli defensive midfielder knocked Mudryk off the ball with an embarrassing nonchalance.
But Ukraine are irrepressible. They dug in and waited for the storm to pass. Under Rebrov, five of their last seven wins have been comebacks.
“I didn’t shout,” Rebrov said of his half-time intervention. “We made some mistakes, we didn’t press well, but we changed a few things. We understood that this is our chance. I am very happy that we took it.”
Zinchenko is the embodiment of Ukraine’s cause — a captain thrust with responsibility before his time, one of his country’s most outspoken figures in the battle against Russian aggression. He has broken down on multiple occasions while discussing the past two years, walking a knife-edge of emotion — how to both inspire and compartmentalise.
After 54 minutes, it was his calmness which created the equaliser — slowing the play down after a Ukrainian transition was forced wide, then perfectly finding Mykola Shaparenko in stride. The midfielder’s strike was low and true.
Two minutes later, Zinchenko whipped up the Ukrainian crowd behind the corner flag before playing it short — like bringing a matador’s cloak to a chess match. Once again, it showed the composure on display. This is a country that knows the futility of panic and the utility of action.
“We think of all the soldiers on the front line and they give us motivation,” said 22-year-old defensive midfielder Volodymyr Brazhko, wide-eyed and baby-faced at full-time. “Yesterday my grandfather died. I had double motivation today.”
Ukraine’s fans in full voice (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
But for now, it was Slovakia slowing down play, finding reasons to go down, but Ukraine had no need to regroup; they have been doing that for two years. And in Roman Yaremchuk, they found their moment.
Three days after the Russian invasion, Yaremchuk had provided the conflict’s most memorable footballing moment — substituted on by Benfica to a standing ovation and given the captain’s armband. The tears in his eyes showed a scotch of emotions — fear, pride, gratefulness. He lost 6kg in the opening weeks of the war.
In the two years since, he was sold to Club Bruges, loaned to Valencia, and found himself horribly out of form, scoring just three La Liga goals. Rebrov’s decision to bring him on for Artem Dovbyk, who scored 24 for Girona, was a beguiling one.
The ball into the channel was hopeful, a punt which appeared destined for one of two fates: to be caught by the goalkeeper or skip out of play. But Yaremchuk chased it because after the two years he has had and the sacrifices they had all made to be there, in that moment, in Dusseldorf, he had no choice but to chase.
It feels strange that beauty can come from suffering, but the two are intertwined; we know what we have because of what can be lost. Yaremchuk controlled the ball with a delicacy which suggested he was only too aware of that, bringing the ball down as if placing a pillow under a sleeping child’s head.
His second touch, a prod with his studs which rolled under Slovakian goalkeeper Martin Dubravka, sent the ball over the line.
Roman Yaremchuk scores Ukraine’s winner (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images)
At full-time, Yaremchuk broke down in tears once more. Behind him, fans were video-calling their families from the stands. The reason why many of them could not be there is obvious.
“A win like today, that’s a huge message for the soldiers, for the people in the country,” said Trubin, patiently answering the same theme in a third language. “Football in Ukraine is still alive.
“We need to push as a national team, push our game, our achievement. We need to come back because we are Ukraine.”
(Top photo: Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images)