Zinchenko and Malinovskyi to lead Ukraine at Euros

Ukraine will be led at Euro 2020 by Manchester City defender Oleksandr Zinchenko and Italy’s Atalanta midfielder Ruslan Malinovskyi, coach Andriy Shevchenko said naming his 26-man squad on Tuesday.

Zinchenko, who plays as a midfielder in the national team, cut a distraught figure after the Premier League champion’s 1-0 loss to Chelsea in Saturday’s Champions League final in Porto.

The 24-year-old, along with Malinovskyi, is a key figure in the formation of Shevchenko’s team ahead of the competition, which was delayed from last year.

In their qualifying group, Ukraine surprisingly finished first with no losses, and in a key match in Kiev defeated reigning European champions Portugal 2-1.

They open their Euro 2020 campaign against the Netherlands on June 13 in Amsterdam, followed by North Macedonia and Austria.

Another Atalanta representative, Viktor Kovalenko, was not included due to a thigh injury, and former captain Yevgen Konoplyanka of Shakhtar Donetsk, is sidleined with a similar problem.

Despite his poor form, veteran winger Andriy Yarmolenko of West Ham was granted a place in the squad.

Aside from several foreign club players, representatives of Ukraine’s two flagship sides and bitter rivals — Dynamo Kiev and Shakhtar Donetsk – are at the core of the team, with rising star Viktor Tsygankov of Dynamo or gifted Shakhtar’s keeper Anatoliy Trubin among them.

Ukraine 26-man squad: 

Goalkeepers: Georgiy Bushchan (Dynamo Kiev), Andriy Pyatov, Anatoliy Trubin (both Shakhtar Donetsk)

Defenders: Eduard Sobol (FC Brugge/BEL), Illia Zabarnyi, Vitaliy Mykolenko, Oleksandr Karavaev, Oleksandr Tymchyk, Denys Popov (all Dynamo Kiev), Sergiy Kryvtsov, Mykola Matviyenko (both Shakhtar Donetsk)

Midfielders: Sergiy Sydorchuk, Mykola Shaparenko, Viktor Tsygankov (all Dynamo Kiev),  Marlos, Taras Stepanenko, Georgiy Sudakov (all Shakhtar Donetsk), Andriy Yarmolenko (West Ham/ENG), Ruslan Malinovskyi (Atalanta/ITA), Yevgen Makarenko (KV Kortrijk/BEL), Oleksandr Zinchenko (Manchester City/ENG), Roman Bezus (Ghent/BEL), Oleksandr Zubkov (Ferencvaros/HUN)

Forwards: Roman Yaremchuk (Ghent/BEL), Artem Besedin (Dynamo Kiev), Artem Dovbyk (Dnipro-1).