Empoli star Viktor Kovalenko had a very special dedication to his home town of Kherson after scoring the winner against Napoli. ‘The occupation was broken a year ago today.’
The Partenopei were loudly jeered off the pitch at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona following awful back-to-back results, a 1-1 Champions League draw with Union Berlin and this 1-0 Serie A home defeat to Empoli.
“This is a great day for the people of my adopted city of Empoli, but also for my home city of Kherson, as it broke the occupation a year ago today,” Kovalenko told Sky Sport Italia.
Kherson Oblast was one of the key battles in the Russian invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, with Ukrainian forces re-entering the city on November 11, 2022.
“We all wanted to win and bring the points home. There are many games to go, but it is a very important result. This is a strong and intelligent group of players, we can do better.”
Coach Rudi Garcia is now inevitably facing calls for his dismissal, especially after moving to a 4-2-3-1 formation today, benching Kvicha Kvaratskhelia and Piotr Zielinski.
Even when returning to 4-3-3 with these star names, they still failed to find a breakthrough, beaten by the stunning stoppage-time Kovalenko curler.
Kovalenko is not in the Ukraine squad for the upcoming EURO 2024 qualifiers, culminating in the showdown with Italy for second place behind England.
“I don’t have hope of playing for Ukraine, but I am certainly cheering them on!”