Andriy Jarmolenko reports on conversation with Anatoly Tymoshchuk: “Piss off”
Anatoliy Tymoshchuk Ukraine
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Yarmolenko and Tymoshchuk are two Ukrainians who have different views on the war in their country. An attempt at reconciliation failed.
Andriy Jarmolenko (32) reported on a phone call with Anatoly Tymoshchuk (43) in which the former Ukrainian national teammates insulted each other. Despite the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Tymoshchuk retained his post as assistant coach of the Russian first division club Zenit St. Petersburg and did not comment on the conflict.
“I wrote to him: ‘How do you sleep at night?’ said Yarmolenko, who is currently at West Ham United, in an interview with Russian blogger Yevgeny Savin. “He replied: ‘Not as good as you.’ ” Then Tymoshchuk Yarmolenko called. “I told him that he was a role model for me, but that he no longer exists for me. He then said: ‘Piss off’. I said the same thing – and that’s it,” said Yarmolenko.
Yarmolenko: “Can’t understand how he can live with this situation”
Tymoshchuk was “always a role model in terms of professionalism” for Yarmolenko: “I tried to be like him. But with the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he did not express his position in any way, did not support Ukraine. That got me surprised.”
The Ukrainian Football Association had already withdrawn all honors and coaching licenses from the record national player Tymoshchuk in March. “At the time, while another ex-club of the Ukrainian, FC Bayern Munich, publishes statements and carries out actions in support of Ukraine, he remains silent and continues to work for the aggressor’s club,” the association’s ethics committee said at the time. Tymoschtschuk played for Bayern Munich from 2009 to 2012. Since retiring in 2017, he has worked as an assistant coach at Zenit St. Petersburg.
“I think he’s scared. He doesn’t know what can happen to him if he says something. He has a wife, children, they’re all in Russia. I can understand the situation, but they have friends in Ukraine whose loved ones are dying,” said Yarmolenko. “He could take his family and live anywhere in the world. I think he has earned enough money to live anywhere in the world. I can’t understand how he can live with this situation.”