“When I arrived in Italy I was greeted as one of you, I feel Italy as a second home. I ask you to open the hearts of my people to help women and children,” Andrei Shevchenko said yesterday, Sunday, on Italian television. “Open your hearts to the people and to my people, to the children and the elderly who so desperately need your help,” the former AC Milan star striker appealed on RAI talk show Che tempo che fa ( in German: How is the weather).
At the same time, the Ukrainian expressed concern about his relatives’ decision to stay in Ukraine. “They tell me what’s happening, how cities are being bombed. We have to stop the guns, we have to find a diplomatic solution to the war,” Shevchenko describes the dramatic events on the ground.
At the same time, Shevchenko also emphasized that sport has enormous power and can send a message of peace to many countries. Most recently, the former striker, who used to be a goalkeeper for Chelsea FC, coached Genoa FC. At the last European Championships last summer, he was still on the sidelines as Ukraine’s team manager. Ukraine was group opponents of Austria. The ÖFB-Elf was able to prevail 1-0 at the time.
