Taras Mykhavko apologised to Dynamo fans after being sent off in match against Shakhtar

Emotional appeal to the stands

The Ukrainian Cup round of 16 match between Kyiv's Dynamo and Donetsk's Shakhtar ended with a 3-0 victory for the visitors. After the final whistle at Arena Lviv, the home side's defender Taras Mykhavko approached the section where the capital club's supporters were seated. The 21-year-old footballer, with tears in his eyes, addressed the fans to personally ask for their forgiveness.

Key moment of the game

The decisive episode occurred in the 30th minute of the encounter. At that point, the score remained level, but the referee showed Taras Mykhavko a straight red card. The reason for the sending-off was a hand strike during a duel with Shakhtar midfielder Oleh Ocheretko. Following this, Dynamo was forced to play with one man down until the end of the match, which significantly affected the course of the game.

Footballer's words in the interview

Later, the defender provided a comment to UPL TV, where he acknowledged his responsibility for the defeat. He apologised several times, both to the supporters and to his teammates, for his actions.

«Насамперед я хотів би перепросити у вболівальників, адже це був мій необдуманий вчинок, через який я залишив команду в меншості» (First of all, I would like to apologise to the fans, as it was my thoughtless act, which left the team with one man down), said Taras Mykhavko.

The footballer emphasised that he understands the scale of the consequences of his action and considers the sending-off to be the main cause of the Kyiv side's defeat.

«Я розумію, що це чиста поразка через мою червону картку. Я дуже-дуже сильно перепрошую. Розумію, що це ніяк не вплине на сьогоднішній результат, але хотів сказати, що це буде один із тих моментів у кар’єрі, який стане уроком» (I understand that this is a clean defeat due to my red card. I am very, very sorry. I understand that this will not affect today's result in any way, but I wanted to say that this will be one of those moments in my career that will serve as a lesson), added the defender.