Man City’s Oleksandr Zinchenko delivers emotional message ahead of Scotland vs Ukraine play-off

Oleksandr Zinchenko broke down in tears ahead of Ukraine’s World Cup semi-final play-off against Scotland on Wednesday, saying he wants to give Ukrainians ‘incredible emotions’.

The clash at Hampden Park was originally scheduled to be played in March but had to be rearranged after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The winner of the semi-final will face Wales on Sunday, with the victor in that game progressing to the World Cup in Qatar later this year.

Speaking before the clash with Scotland, Ukraine’s first competitive match since the outbreak of the war, the Manchester City full-back said he and his team-mates are hoping to make Ukrainian nationals ‘happy and proud’.

"Every Ukrainian wants one thing – to stop this war,” he explained. "I have spoken with people from all around the world, from different countries, and also some Ukrainian kids, who just don’t understand what is happening back in Ukraine.

“They only want the war to stop. They have one dream – to stop the war.

"When it comes to football, the Ukrainian team have their own dream: we want to go to the World Cup.

"We want to give incredible emotions to the Ukrainian people because Ukrainians deserve it so much at this very moment.

"I’m pretty sure that all Ukraine who has this opportunity is going to watch us, and we are going to feel this support 100 %.

"We can speak a lot but we need to do it on the pitch. We are going to try to make them happy and proud."

Ukraine last played a competitive game in November, but are regulars at major international tournaments, a tradition Zinchenko plans to continue.

“Our mood, I would describe as a fighting mood, because everyone understands what is going on in Ukraine these days, what the situation is like on the ground.

"That’s why I would say our motivation is definitely 100 % to win.”

“I would like to say as well that a lot of countries maybe don’t understand that - today it is Ukraine but tomorrow it can be you,” he added,

"So that’s why we need to be united and need to defeat aggression altogether.”