Oleks a class act both on & off the pitch
It was Nelson Mandela who said sport has the power to change the world.
It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand.
That message could not have been clearer during a haunting moment inside Hampden’s media auditorium midweek.
A press conference less ordinary with Manchester City’s Oleksandr Zinchenko and Ukraine manager Oleksandr Petrakov.
Even the walk up to the National Stadium triggered a sense of something bigger than a pre-match question and answer session.
Al Jazeera, beIN Sports, Bild, CNN, ESPN, L’Equipe, NBC, the New York Times, Reuters, Sports Illustrated and the Washington Post were all in attendance.
What did Ukraine’s game against Scotland mean to his country? Zinchenko started to speak.
His words were punctuated with pauses, choked with tears, a battle to maintain composure as he spoke of evil and the horror of a Russian invasion in his homeland.
Taking up the gun and going to fight in the frontline was a consideration but his influence as a public figure to talk truth to power is now his role.
As for the Scotland game? Barely a mention of a World Cup play-off semi-final which was 24 hours away.
There was an eerie hush as Zinchenko spoke, an unforgettable experience, humbling and a brief insight into someone’s emotional state as his people suffer atrocities Scottish folk couldn’t possibly comprehend.
Petrakov also spoke of battle, the promise his side would fight like lions to gain a moraleboosting win to bolster the war effort.
Scotland were on a hiding to nothing against a team powered by a cause. Zinchenko
spends his free time phoning injured soldiers in Ukranian hospitals.
He has donated a fortune to help his stricken nation, loaded trucks to deliver aid back home, and all of this in the backdrop of members of his family refusing to evacuate their homes despite bombs raining down.
His parents hid in basements and bomb shelters – those tears at Hampden were about horror as he used the platform to condemn but also to inspire.
No dull cliches, no desire to get his media duties rushed through, no sign of what has become the norm for footballers to spend five minutes trying their best to say nothing.
Quietly powerful, politically articulate and dignified, Zinchenko showed how to use sport as a force of good and how to harness the message of solidarity.
There was nothing stage managed or monotone.
Our game has players who struggle to answer basic questions about mundane football matters, never mind discussing what it’s like to have family in the frontline of a war zone.
Anxious glances were cast across to their media officers if asked if 4-4-2 is their preferred formation.
Scotland v Ukraine had a global interest,it was much more than a game of football, despite disappointing defeat.
Zinchenko proved himself to be a class act on and off the pitch. Make no mistake, the power of sport can change the world.
Zinchenko spends his free time phoning injured soldiers in hospitals