Kostiantyn Yaroshenko: "Icelanders do not consider Ukraine a clear favourite"

Former Shakhtar player Kostiantyn Yaroshenko, who now plays for Icelandic side Trojutur, spoke about the attitude in Iceland to today's Euro 2024 play-off match against the Ukrainian national team.

"They don't really know anything about the UPL, Shakhtar or Dynamo. If I ask them about the players of these clubs, they will tell me almost no one. They could have named Mudryk back when he was on fire in the Champions League and then moved to Chelsea, but now they ask: "Who plays at Shakhtar? Who can you single out? Tell us".

Here, perhaps, only the Premier League knows perfectly. We even had a case when, during a team party, there was an Inter Milan match and something with non-top English teams on at the same time, the priority was undoubtedly given to the latter.

I was immediately informed that there would be a 'Fight' between Ukraine and Iceland. I answered - yes, yes! They believe in their team and don't consider Ukraine to be a clear favourite. I don't know, they're just not even afraid somehow. But, of course, they show respect.

In Bosnia, I could feel that they were afraid, and the Icelanders are completely confident. But I think there will be a lot of offers to bet on something before the match, discussions. Most likely, we won't have a team viewing of the match. It's not so popular here. After training, everyone goes home or on business, and privacy outweighs collectivism here. In Ukraine, everyone cares about the national team, but here it doesn't happen, or they don't show it. There's no passion," Yaroshenko said.