Euro2024, Romania’s victory against Ukraine tainted by chants for Putin (Republic)

Euro2024: Romania dominated Ukraine, but their beautiful victory was tarnished by “Putin Putin” chants at the end of the match.

Euro2024, the “Putin Putin” chants after the defeat of Ukraine

He writes Republic:

A group of lost footballers, but all much more than footballers. Ukraine is the national team without stadiums, without matches, without fans, without
championship. His athletes are symbols, a sign of resistance. But they are dazed, that’s the least. They saw comrades, relatives and friends enlist and die. When they succeed, they find themselves training together in Poland. With this state of mind, they probably took to the pitch against Romania even if, in reality, they were never on that pitch: 3-0 for the yellows led by the strongest among them, Nicolae Stanciu, the playmaker who plays in Arabia and who scored the first goal, becoming the first player from the Arab tournament to score in the history of the European Championship. A triumphal debut, tainted by the “Putin Putin” chants from a group of their fans.

It’s difficult to think of Romania-Ukraine as just a match. After less than an hour, the Ukrainians were already down three goals to zero, the first two conceded with the complicity of goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, European and Spanish champion with Real Madrid. However, Ukraine’s presence and significance at Euro 2024 are much deeper than mere technical data. What this team means in the most important football event on the continent, tormented by war not so far from here, is also demonstrated by the traveling installation exhibited in the cities where Ukraine plays: a part of the stand of the “Sonyachny” stadium in Kharkiv , bombed and razed by the Russians. Broken seats, rubble more eloquent than any speech.

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