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Striker legends among themselves: Andriy Shevchenko (left) and Robert Lewandowski
Photo: IMAGO/PIOTR KUCZA / IMAGO/Newspix
With a blue and yellow captain's armband on his arm, Poland's star striker Robert Lewandowski wants to express his solidarity with Ukraine at the World Cup in Qatar.
The former Bayern professional was presented with the armband by Ukrainian football icon Andriy Shevchenko at a meeting in the National Stadium in Warsaw.
“Thank you, Andriy.
It was a pleasure to meet you!
It will be an honor for me to wear this captain's armband in the national colors of Ukraine at the World Cup," wrote the FC Barcelona professional on Instagram, posting a picture of himself and Shevchenko.
At the end of February, the then Bayern captain wore a captain's armband in the colors blue and yellow in the Bundesliga game against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Lewandowski, meanwhile in the service of FC Barcelona, had already expressed his support for the Ukraine, which has been defending against a Russian war of aggression since February 24th, in a different way: the goalscorer and his Polish national team colleagues had publicly declared that they would off for the World Cup on March 24, not wanting to play against Russia as scheduled.
"We can't pretend nothing happened," Lewandowski said at the time.
A short time later, the Russian national team was excluded from all international competitions organized by the world association FIFA.
Meanwhile, the European football union Uefa announced that Russia will not take part in the draw for the Euro 2024 qualifiers in Germany.
Poland will play Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Mexico in Group C at the World Cup from November 20th to December 18th.
The Ukrainians failed to qualify.
dam/dpa/sid