12-Year-Old Ukrainian Refugee Scores Winning Goal For Shakhtar Donetsk In Charity Friendly Match

A 12-year-old refugee from the war in Ukraine came off the bench to score the winning goal for Shakhtar Donetsk in a charity friendly match on Thursday.

The heart-warming moment occurred in the second half of Shakhtar’s match against Polish club Lechia Gdansk.

With the game level at 2-2 heading into second-half extra-time, Shakhtar brought on Ukrainian youngster Dmytro Keda - who comes from the besieged city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine.

Keda was allowed to score the game-winning goal for Shakhtar, the club he supports.

He was then lifted into the air by the Shakhtar players in beautiful scenes at the Polsat Plus Arena.

The match was part of the Shakhtar Global Tour for Peace, which began with a 1-0 win over Greek side Olympiakos and will also include games against Fenerbahce and Hajduk Split.

Shakhtar say that all proceeds from the tour will be "allocated for humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine".

🧡🇺🇦 A 12-year-old boy from Mariupol has played for Shakhtar and netted a goal ⚒

Dmytro Keda came on as a substitute at the end of the charity match vs Lechia.#Shakhtar #Україна #Ukraine #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/tKtWlt6I7a

— FC SHAKHTAR ENGLISH (@FCShakhtar_eng) April 14, 2022

Speaking after the win over Olympiakos, Shakhtar’s sporting director said: “I’m always proud of the team.

“The last training session they did was January 19. When I asked if they were ready to play on Saturday, they said: ‘Darijo, we are Ukrainians, we are ready for everything!’

“They had just one training session together yesterday, and they were playing together for the first time in their life – we took seven or eight players on loan from Mariupol.

“[Dmytro] Myshnyov, the captain of Mariupol, doesn’t have his house, his car, his apartment anymore – we brought him here to play for us, and today he is a symbol of Mariupol.

“We are really proud of that.”

Shakhtar will continue their tour against Fenerbahce in Turkey on Tuesday, before rounding it off against Hajduk Split in Croatia on May 1.