Ukraine is the underdog to England in Saturday’s Euro 2020 quarter-finals, but the Three Lions should still be wary of some stars in their ranks.
One such player will be very familiar to Premier League fans and West Ham in particular: Andriy Yarmolenko.
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Yarmolenko has two goals and three assists so far in Euro 2020
The attacker has been incredible for his country and has been their best player in the Euro, having reached the round of 16 of a European Championship for the first time in their history.
The Yarmolenko who plays for Ukraine looks very different from the one who plays for West Ham.
The 31-year-old was a star with Dynamo Kyiv, winning three league titles during his nine full seasons with the club before joining Borussia Dortmund.
At Dortmund, he made 26 appearances in his only season, which also included a brilliant goal against Tottenham in the Champions League.
Yarmolenko starred against Tottenham in the Champions League for Dortmund
West Ham paid £ 17.5 million in 2018 to sign the Ukrainian but has yet to really justify the money they paid.
Over three seasons, he has played 54 times, but has only scored 10 times and has been a source of frustration for the club’s fans at times.
For Ukraine, it is a different story. He has scored 42 goals in just 98 appearances and is his second top scorer in history.
Number one is legend Andriy Shevchenko, who is the current coach, at 48. He is not bad company.
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Yarmolenko was hired by West Ham in 2018 for £ 17.5 million
Two of those goals for Uktaine have come at Euro 2020, including one of the tournament’s goal contenders.
He also has three assists in the tournament, involving him in five of Ukraine’s seven goals so far.
The West Ham striker has already equaled Shevchenko’s record for most goals (5) by a Ukrainian player in a major tournament and can beat it against England.
José Mourinho joined talkSPORT on Thursday and spoke about Yarmolenko, hailing him as one of the pivotal players for Ukraine.
Mourinho told talkSPORT: “You have players who are not the most important players in their clubs, they become fundamental for their countries.
“With Yarmolenko it is this feeling. West Ham is a very good team, they have a lot of good players and they are a good player but you have others.
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Yarmolenko needs just six goals to match Shevchenko’s record
“He is not always playing and he goes to the national team and he is the king. He goes to the national team and has a certain status that gives him not only confidence but responsibility.
“Coaches like Shevchenko know that these players are fundamental to them, no matter what they do for the club or how well they do in the season, these are the players who are fundamental to the country. Always go “.
West Ham first team coach Stuart Pearce also gave Yarmolenko a big credit on talkSPORT, for his work ethic and how he got in shape for Euro 2020.
Pearce said: “He worked really hard at West Ham at the end of the season, injured his knee and was out for a few weeks.
“He worked hard and always came to us saying ‘I want to play in the U23’.”
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Yarmolenko was Ukraine’s star man at Euro 2020
Mourinho added: “I met him at Tottenham training ground, he was going to play an under-23 game and he was recovering from an injury.
“These guys know how important they are for their country, they want to arrive in the best conditions for these competitions.
“They are kings in their land and they give everything for their country. The environment attracts the players to behave and have these contributions ”.
Yarmolenko will certainly try to surprise England at Euro 2020 to reach a historic semi-final for his country. England will have to be cautious.
England vs Ukraine in the quarterfinals of Euro 2020 is live on talkSPORT this Saturday, start at 20:00
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