Barcelona, Napoli players hold 'Stop War' banner before Europa League match
The international football community was inevitably going to be impacted by Russia's disturbing invasion of Ukraine. Some players directly addressed the matter during Thursday's UEFA Europa League action.
As Sam Marsden noted for ESPN, Atalanta midfielder and Ukraine international Ruslan Malinovskyi hit the back of the net during his side's win over Olympiakos that propelled the Serie A club into the tournament's next round and unveiled a "No war in Ukraine" shirt under his jersey during his celebration:
Arguably the day's most moving picture on a pitch came from before the start of the match between Barcelona and Napoli, as players from both clubs came together to hold a massive "Stop War" banner ahead of kickoff:
It is believed UEFA will announce Friday that the Champions League final scheduled to occur in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg on May 28 will be relocated due to the nation's invasion of Ukraine, although the governing body won't necessarily name the new venue for the contest at that time.
Elsewhere, the Ukrainian Premier League suspended play coming off its winter break after the country declared martial law. Meanwhile, Brazilian footballers who feature for Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv took to Instagram to ask the government of Brazil for help in exiting Ukraine.
As of Thursday evening, Russia was scheduled to host Poland in a World Cup playoff match on March 24, with the winner of that game to later host either Sweden or Czech Republic. However, the Football Associations of Poland, Sweden and Czech Republic released a joint statement Thursday requesting that no playoff games be held in Russia.
The Ukrainian Football Association has called upon both UEFA and FIFA to ban "national teams and clubs of Russia" from tournaments, for Saint Petersburg to be stripped of this year's Champions League final and for the Russian city of Kazan to lose the rights to the 2023 UEFA Super Cup.
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