Andriy Yarmolenko Breaks Down In Tears After His Goal Is Announced "For West Ham and Ukraine"

West Ham United and Ukraine winger Andriy Yarmolenko broke down in tears after opening the scoring against Aston Villa.

Yarmolenko was given compassionate leave following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and he returned to the matchday squad for the first time since mid-February.

He replaced Michail Antonio in the 51st minute and received a thunderous ovation from all 60,000 inside the London Stadium.

The 32-year-old left his mark on the contest 19 minutes later after smashing home a Said Benrahma pass with the outside of his boot.

Yarmolenko's teammates immediately swarmed him in celebration, but he could do nothing but collapse to his knees with his head in his hands.

West Ham's stadium announcer then announced the goal as being 'for West Ham and Ukraine' as everyone in the stadium applauded.

The former Borussia Dortmund man would regain his composure and he wiped his face after hearing the home fan's joy for him.

It was Yarmolenko's first goal since July 2020, which also came against Villa.

West Ham would end up winning the game 2-1 to keep their slim top four hopes alive.

Pablo Fornals added a second in the 82nd minute, before Jacob Ramsey scored a consolation for Villa in added time.

Yarmolenko is one of three Ukraine internationals in the Premier League, with the other two being Oleksandr Zinchenko at Manchester City and Everton defender Vitaliy Mykolenko.

Zinchenko and Mykolenko embraced when their two sides met last month.

Yarmolenko travelled to Poland while on compassionate leave to collect his family, who had fled Ukraine.

Hammers manager David Moyes said pre-match he expected a positive reaction for Yarmolenko.

"Undoubtedly and rightly so. You've seen the response from Premier League clubs who have Ukrainian players," the Scot said per Sunday World.

"We're all huge supporters of the players and we're huge supporters of Ukraine. We want the war to end, we want Ukrainians to be happy and be free.

"We're the same for Yarmolenko, we’re always thinking about him and his family because all the Ukrainian (players) have got family members in the country, whether that be brothers, sisters, mums, dads, cousins or nieces, whatever it may be, I think they have all got members of their family in the country."

Featured Image Credit: Premier League

Topics: West Ham United, Ukraine, Premier League, Aston Villa

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a social editor for SPORTbible after moving from the writing team. Nearly scored past Stormzy at Old Trafford once.

@DanMarland_