Everton Changed Pre-Match Goodison Park Ritual Against Manchester City Out Of Respect For Ukrainian Players

Everton decided to scrap their pre-match tradition at Goodison Park out of respect for Ukrainian players.

The Toffees hosted Manchester City in the the 17:30 kick-off and played the Z Cars theme as the players came out of the tunnel as has been the case for the number of years.

In 2019, the Merseyside outfit changed things up and had air raid sirens preceding the normal tune.

Those sirens were used by former world champion boxer and staunch Everton fan Tony Bellew for his ring walk music and were adopted by the club.

The first play of the remix track took place ahead of the Merseyside derby against Liverpool.

However, the club felt as though it would not be in good taste for the sirens to play over the tannoy system due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the fact that emergency sounds were heard this week.

Everton's January signing Vitaliy Mykolenko is from Ukraine, as is Manchester City left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko - and the two shared a powerful embrace before the game.

Everton played the Hollies hit 'He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother' as the players line up on the pitch.

The cameras panned to the bench where a tearful Zinchenko was clearly moved by the scenes.

Zinchenko, who was forced to leave Donetsk when playing for Shakhtar in 2014, took to Instagram to post a picture of Russia president Vladimir Putin to his story, with the caption: “I hope you die the most painful suffering death, creature.”

The post was taken down, with the former FC Ufa player claiming it was deleted by Instagram.

Zinchenko, capped 48 times for his country, attended a vigil alongside fellow Ukrainians at Manchester Central Library on Thursday.

Zinchenko remained available for selection, with Pep Guardiola hailing him as "an incredible, strong guy".

But Guardiola has confirmed the club are fully supporting the 25-year-old given the situation in his home country.

Guardiola said: "What would you do if someone attacked the UK? How would you react? How would you feel? It’s what he feels [to protest]. Unfortunately around the world there are many wars – this is a new one. It’s more than a pity because innocent people are dying when these innocent people just want to live in peace.

“He is worried. What would we feel if in our country, where we were born and have family and friends, innocent people are being killed? How will you feel? I guess that’s what he feels. Of course, the team and the club is close to him, unconditionally.”

Meanwhile, Everton boss Frank Lampard also said the decision on Mykolenko's availability was down to the player himself.