Everton’s Ukraine international Vitalii Mykolenko has movingly revealed the horror of his father taking up arms to defend his country when he’d been scheduled to travelling to England and watch his son play in the Premier League.
Mykolenko had booked a ticket for dad Sergei to see Everton’s game against Manchester City on February 26 last year only for the plans to be ripped up when the Russian invaded Ukraine two days earlier.
Mum Odessa then called to deliver the bombshell news that Sergei had left his job as a builder to become a soldier.