Press conference. Andriy Yarmolenko: "I came to the press conference to defend the guys"

The captain of the national team of Ukraine Andriy Yarmolenko, together with head coach Serhiy Rebrov, took part in a press conference on the eve of the 2024/2025 Nations League match against the Czech Republic.

- Roman Yaremchuk said that the team had drawn conclusions after the Euros, but the game against Albania was not much different from the match against Romania. In this context, what is your influence on the younger players, on their attitude to playing for the national team?

- Of course, after the game against Romania, each of the players who were in the national team's location drew conclusions. I think this was shown by our next game, against Slovakia. The fact that we lost the match against Albania should not be interpreted as if we go out on the field and do not want to achieve a good result. The guys are also worried, they understand where they are coming from, they understand that they represent a country at war. I come to the press conference to defend the guys as well - we shouldn't attack everyone. We want to show the best possible football. But you also have to understand that now all national teams have learned to play football, there are no easy games anymore. Albania is a completely different team than the one we had five years ago. They showed this with their performance at the Euros and against us. Everyone gave their best, but that's football, you can't help it. We need to draw conclusions from such games and move on.

What can I give to the youngsters? Of course, it's experience. If a young footballer wants to ask me something, I am always open and ready to help.

- Have you discussed with your players such events as the outbreak of a full-scale war when you were supposed to be playing matches? How do you deal with such moments?

- When the full-scale war started, there was no time to discuss anything. You were worried about your family, about making sure that your loved ones were safe. I would also like to thank the players of the Czech national team - Zoufal, Soucek, Kral, who supported me a lot and offered their help. I will always be grateful to them for that.

- How do you prepare for the championship matches when an air raid can interrupt training or a game at any time?

- It's hard to get used to it: when the game is going on and you hear the siren, you have to go to the bomb shelter. Of course, it's not easy, but we can't complain because we know what our military is doing. It is really hard for them. So we endure and try to play football and give people some positive emotions.