Ukrainian stars shine abroad: Watch Dovbyk, Zabarnyi, and others in action
Photo: Artem Dovbyk scored his first goal of the season (x.com/OfficialASRoma)
Last weekend was a strong one for Ukrainian footballers playing abroad. Here's a roundup of the standout moments from our international players.
Italy
Artem Dovbyk scored his first goal for Roma. Gian Piero Gasperini's team played their 5th Serie A round match at home against Verona. Artem started in the starting lineup for the second match in a row. The coach's trust led to an early goal from the Ukrainian forward, who opened the score in the 7th minute. The game ended with a convincing 2-0 victory for the capital club.
In Italy, another Ukrainian footballer, Ruslan Malinovskyi, will play his match on Monday, September 29. His Genoa will close the round with a home game against Lazio. Kickoff is at 21:45 Kyiv time.
Roma has climbed to the top of the Serie A standings alongside reigning champions Napoli and Milan, all with 12 points. Genoa sits 17th with 2 points.
France
Ilia Zabarnyi scored his first goal for Paris Saint-Germain, opening the scoring against Auxerre.
Luis Enrique's side beat their opponent 2-0 and now share the top of the table with Lyon, both sitting on 15 points.
England
In the Premier League, Yegor Yarmoliuk of Brentford had a standout performance. His team beat Manchester United 3-1. Yarmoliuk not only recorded an official assist for the third goal but also helped set up another scoring chance—effectively contributing to two goals.
Oleksandr Zinchenko's Nottingham Forest lost 0-1 at home to Sunderland, but the Ukrainian defender impressed, playing the full 90 minutes and actively contributing with the ball.
Vitalii Mykolenko's Everton will play on September 29 at 22:00 at home against West Ham.
Liverpool leads the Premier League with 15 points. Everton and Brentford have 7 points each, sitting 12th and 13th respectively, while Nottingham Forest is 17th with 5 points.
Spain
Ukrainians struggled in La Liga. Andrii Lunin remains on Real Madrid's bench, and Real suffered a heavy 2-5 defeat to Atlético in the Madrid derby. Madrid is second in the table with 18 points, just behind Barcelona (19).
Girona, with three Ukrainians, is last. In the match against Espanyol (0-0), only Vladyslav Vanat took the field from the Ukrainian players. Viktor Tsyhankov is still injured. Vladyslav Krapyvtsov is at the U-20 World Cup with the national team.
Vanat had a clear chance in the 52nd minute but was stopped by the goalkeeper.
Other Leagues
In Portugal, Benfica came from behind to beat Gil Vicente 2-1. Anatolii Trubin played the full match in goal, making several key saves, while Georgii Sudakov started and was substituted in the 80th minute.
In Turkey, Trabzonspor secured a hard-fought 4-3 away win over Fatih Karagümrük. Ukrainian Danilo Sikan scored his first goal of the season after coming on in the 64th minute, netting the fourth goal in the 88th minute.
Arsenii Batagov played the full match, and Oleksandr Zubkov featured for 80 minutes.
Trabzonspor sits third in the league with 14 points, behind Galatasaray (21) and Fenerbahçe (15).
In the MLS, Artem Smoliakov's Los Angeles beat St. Louis City 3-0 away. Smoliakov was a key figure, playing 77 minutes and providing two assists for star forward Son Heung-min, who scored twice.
Los Angeles is 4th in the Western Conference and has already secured a playoff spot.
