Steven Gerrard has praised the Aston Villa supporters for their reaction to Andriy Yarmolenko's goal against his side on Sunday afternoon. West Ham ran out 2-1 winners over Villa with Yarmolenko coming off the bench to open the scoring in his first appearance since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last month.
The goal saw Yarmolenko raise his hands to the sky in celebration before emotion got the better of him and he collapsed to the ground in tears. The entire West Ham team surrounded the goalscorer and engulfed him in hugs that were clearly more than just celebrating his goal.
As Yarmolenko retreated back to his own half the visiting supporters stood to applaud Yarmolenko, not the first time they had done so that day with the Villa fans joining the West Ham faithful in a standing ovation as he entered the pitch for the stricken Michail Antonio.
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The Villa fan's gesture was a touching one but one that did not surprise their manager Steven Gerrard: "The Villa fans have been absolutely class with me. They are educated people, in terms of football, and I'm not surprised at that class," he said. "The kid scores a good goal and he has been through a lot so we send him our regards."
Considering everything he has gone through Yarmolenko's ability to perform was astounding and the Ukrainian admitted it was an emotional afternoon for him at the London Stadium.
"It was so emotional for me because of the situation in my country," he said. "It is so difficult for me right now in this moment thinking about football because every day, the Russian army is killing Ukrainian people. It was so emotional. To be honest, I don’t know what to say. I just want to say thank you to my team-mates, who support me all the time, every day. To West Ham fans, they also support me and Ukrainian people and also to all British people, because we feel you support us. Thank you, really.
"I felt the support from the fans and I tried to give everything on the pitch because I know how important the game was for us today. I'm not ready for 100% because the last two weeks I train maybe three or four times. Since 26 February, I had to rest for four days because it was impossible to train, I was just thinking about my family and my people. I just tried to give everything on the pitch."
