Ukraine coach Andriy Shevchenko admits Ukraine ‘paid the price’ for Andriy Yarmolenko’s penalty miss during their 2-0 defeat to Poland on Wednesday night, as he told UA Football.
The outcome of a game tends to depend on who makes the big moments count – and Ukraine found that out the hard way in midweek.
After winning a penalty with a typically jinking dart inside the 18-yard box, Yarmolenko dusted himself down and proceeded to plant the resulting spot kick against the post.
Shortly after, Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin raced 30 yards from his goal and made a horrible hash of a simple clearance, gifting Krzysztof Piatek the opener and setting Poland on their way to a 2-0 win.
Hence those ‘two mistakes’ Shevchenko referred to post-match.
The 2020/21 season hasn’t gone to plan for Yarmolenko, and this was another disappointing outing for a £17 million forward who remains West Ham’s highest earner despite slipping behind Jarrod Bowen in the pecking order.
“We made two mistakes and paid the price. But this is football. I’m happy with the performance,” said former Chelsea and AC Milan striker Shevchenko.
“The missed penalty? It was a chance to take the lead.
“But the team did not stop (after the miss), they continued in the same spirit. I was pleased with the content of the game. In addition to the penalty kick, we still had many chances to at least take away a draw.”
It is only a few weeks since Yarmolenko produced one of the worst cameos in recent Premier League history in a 1-1 draw with Manchester City.
Whether or not he ran over 13 black cats on his way to training, something certainly isn’t going right for the former Dortmund winger right now.
Fotomac reported this week that Yarmolenko could move to Fenerbahce in January, ironically enough, as a replacement for ex-Hammers striker Enner Valencia.
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