Michael Kenrick 24/03/2025 6comments  |  Jump to last

Reports suggest that Vitaliy Mykolenko has picked a thigh injury that caused his substitution after 69 minutes of the Nations League playoff against Belgium on Sunday.

Ukraine Manager, Serhiy Rebrov, said of the move: “Unfortunately, he has an injury, he will do an MRI, we’ll see.  I know Vitaliy. If he didn’t continue playing, then the injury was really serious.”

After he left the field, Ukraine collapsed in the next 15 minutes, conceding 3 goals to lose the 2nd leg and thus the playoff, with an aggregate score of 4-3 to Belgium, and two of the goals coming from former Everton striker Romelu Lukaku on 75 and 86 minutes.  

Just how 'serious' the injury to Mykolenko really is remains to be seen, with potentially over a week for him to recover if he is to be fit for the Anfield derby on 2 April.

nb: Both Everton and Liverpool petitioned the Premier League to have the derby game moved forward to Tuesday 1 April but their request was refused. 

 

Reader Comments (6)

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Christy Ring
1 Posted 24/03/2025 at 12:33:05
Mykolenko is always getting injured on International duty.

He will probably miss the Red Shite game now, especially as he always plays well against Salah.

Danny O'Neill
2 Posted 24/03/2025 at 12:52:26
Hopefully the "really serious" is lost a bit in translation and it's not that serious. Thigh injuries can be tricky to recover from though.

He may not be the best, but he's the best we've got right now.

Mike Gaynes
3 Posted 24/03/2025 at 14:29:01
Bummer. We need him and will miss him greatly.

He did a superb job on Salah in the last derby.

Jay Harris
4 Posted 24/03/2025 at 14:45:35
We could play 3 centre-backs and use Harrison as a wingback on the left with Garner on the right and give Tim a run out in midfield.

Then go for them — but their strength is on the flanks with Salah and Diaz, so we ideally need Myko to recover in time.

Ajay Gopal
5 Posted 25/03/2025 at 13:58:24
Jay, I like your idea of a back 3, with Harrison and Garner as wing backs. Both of them are extremely hard working and they can put in a few crosses too. Or perhaps, Moyes will play it safe and just do a straight swap and bring in Young for Mykolenko.

My starting XI (if Mykolenko is unavailable): (3-5-1-1)

Pickford
O'Brien Tarkowski Branthwaite
Garner Iroegbunam Gueye Doucoure Harrison
Alcaraz
Beto

Subs: Lindstrom, Broja, Chermiti, Patterson, Young

Jay Harris
6 Posted 25/03/2025 at 15:03:10
I wholeheartedly concur AJ, that line-up would keep it tight and hit them on the break with any two of the five breaking forward in support.

I don't like the idea of Young playing in this game because he would be a cert for a red card.

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