The magnificent Oleksandr Zinchenko speaks to Sky. “To be fair, obviously everyone knows the situation in Ukraine, and every single game for us is like a final game. But we dream like a team to be at the World Cup, and we have one more game, one more final, and we need to win it, we need to take it, otherwise this game is not going to mean anything. We played quite well, apart from maybe 20 minutes in the second half. Scotland is a great team. They play an open game, not our style, but we did well, scoring three goals and we could have scored another. Wales is going to be a massive game for us. We need to show the best performance in our lives, and we’ll see what will happen.”
Ukraine’s fans stay behind at Hampden and give it plenty. As they did before the match. If ever some supporters deserved something to cheer about, here they are.
Fans unite to sing Ukrainian anthem before World Cup qualifier – videoTo a man, Ukraine race over to their fans to celebrate. It’s a heartwarming result that keeps their World Cup dream alive, and gives everyone suffering back home a little succour. What a lovely moment. It’s no more than they deserve, either: they were the best team for the vast majority of the game, and could have scored a few more. Simply a class above Scotland, who nevertheless rediscovered their mojo in the closing stages and gave it a good go. Scotland are a team trending in the right direction, but there’s still some way to go, and their wait for a first 21st-century appearance at the World Cup goes on.
Ukraine players celebrate their win and applaud their fans after the final whistle. Photograph: Lee Smith/Action Images/ReutersFULL TIME: Scotland 1-3 UkraineUkraine will play Wales in Cardiff on Sunday for a place at the 2022 World Cup!
GOAL! Scotland 1-3 Ukraine (Dovbyk 90+5)Scotland launch one last Hail Mary. Ukraine clear. Zinchenko sends Dovbyk clear into the Scottish half. He draws Gordon and whips into the bottom left!
Ukraine’s Artem Dovbyk celebrates scoring their third goal. Photograph: Lee Smith/Action Images/Reuters90 min +4: Zubkov, Mudryk and Shaparenko waste a three-on-one break. Ukraine are doing their level best to keep Scotland afloat.
90 min +3: … but time really isn’t on their side, not least because Ukraine spend the next minute replacing Stepanenko with Sydorchuk.
90 min +2: Zinchenko grooves down the middle and slips a pass into the box for Zubkov, who is one on one with Gordon. He’s surely going to seal it for Ukraine … but he whistles his shot wide left! Scotland’s faint hopes remain.
90 min +1: Adams works hard down the left to win a corner. McGinn swings it into the mixer. Hanley rises highest but can only send a weak header miles wide right.
90 min: Scotland have almost certainly left it too late, haven’t they? They’ve got four added minutes to salvage this.
Scotland fans appear dejected as the final whistle approaches. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA88 min: Adams chases a long pass down the right. Ukraine are light in defence, but the striker’s poor control lets them off. Another goal kick.
87 min: Hickey throws in from the right to McGinn, who has the opportunity of returning the ball down the flank and sending his young team-mate clear. McGinn gets too much on the pass it’s a goal kick for Ukraine. The clock ticks on.
85 min: Armstrong drives a cross in from the right. Robertson, coming in from the other flank, opts to trap before shooting. Bad choice. He’s closed down, and the chance is gone.
84 min: … so instead, Hickey and McGinn try a clever short one, and there goes the chance to put the flapping keeper under more pressure.
83 min: Ukraine are rattled for the first time this evening. Shaparenko is booked for a clumsy challenge on Christie, and it’s a free kick out on the right. A chance to swing one in over the head of the nervous Bushchan!
82 min: Nothing comes of the corner that resulted from McGregor’s hope-salvaging challenge. That was a simply astonishing passage of play.
81 min: McGregor, having just got Scotland back into the game, keeps them in it! Scotland win a corner. Robertson’s delivery isn’t the best. Ukraine clear. Suddenly they’re two on one! Zubkov creams a pass down the middle to release Dovbyk, who is one on one with Gordon. Hampden falls silent. Dovbyk cocks his leg back to shoot … only for McGregor to turn up and nick the ball off his toe! What an intervention!
Scotland’s Callum McGregor (right) nicks the ball off the toe of Ukraine’s Artem Dovbyk to deny him a shot. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PAGOAL! Scotland 1-2 Ukraine (McGregor 79)Armstrong crosses. McTominay challenges Bushchan, who flaps again. The ball drops to McGregor, just to the left of the D. McGregor shoots. Bushchan again flaps, letting the ball squirt through his hands. It bounces into the top right, just over the line, Matvienko unable to hook clear in time. This is back on!
Scotland’s Scott McTominay puts Ukraine’s keeper Georgiy Bushchan under pressure as he punches clear. Photograph: Russell Cheyne/ReutersThe ball falls to Scotland’s Callum McGregor who hoicks it goalwards. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PAAnd it finds its way into the net. He celebrates after getting the home side back into the game. Photograph: Scott Heppell/AP78 min: Ukraine replace their goalscorers. Off go Yarmolenko and Yaremchuk, on come Zubkov and Dovbyk.
76 min: Adams dribbles into the Ukraine box from the right. With five yellow shirts in front of him, he does well to power a shot through the thicket of defenders. Bushchan parries. McGinn latches onto the loose ball. His shot is deflected out for a corner, from which nothing comes. Scotland have finally woken up, but have they left it too late?
75 min: Shaparenko shovels a pass down the inside-left channel that nearly releases Zinchenko into the Scotland box. Not quite. Scotland again living dangerously.
73 min: McTominay and Christie ping a couple of quickfire passes down the middle, the ball breaking to Armstrong, who sends a pea-roller straight at Bushchan from the edge of the box.
72 min: Now Tsygankov drops a shoulder to come in from the left. He shoots. Gordon parries. That’s Tsyganov’s last act of the evening: he’s replaced by Mudryk, while Malinovskyi makes way for Shaparenko.
70 min: One goal for Scotland could change everything. A third for Ukraine would end it. And having come so close to getting back into the game, Scotland are in danger of shipping another, McTominay gifting possession to Zinchenko, who nearly dances his way through what remains of the Scottish back line. Hampden feared the worst there.
68 min: McGinn drops to his knees and punches the turf. Still, that’s much better from the Scots, who send on Hendry and Armstrong in place of Cooper and Gilmour.
67 min: The ball drops to McToiminay, just inside the Ukraine box on the right. He traps and shoots. Matvienko blocks. Scotland come again. Christie feeds McTominay down the right. McTominay’s cross is fumbled by Bushchan. The ball drops to McGinn, six yards out. He must score! He tries to steer his header into the bottom right … and watches in horror as the ball sails inches wide of the post. What a chance!
John McGinn of Scotland heads wide from six yards out. Photograph: Mark Runnacles/Getty ImagesScotland’s Grant Hanley reacts after McGinn’s miss. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian66 min: Scotland are beginning to spend a little more time in the Ukraine half, but to little effect. The visitors hold their shape. Gilmour eventually passes the ball out of play under no pressure whatsoever.
64 min: A little bit of space for Adams down the right. He crosses. There’s nobody anywhere near in blue. “Got to hand it to them, this is selfless from Scotland.” Some tinder-dry humour from Simon McMahon, right there.
62 min: Hickey, who is enduring his debut, tries to find Christie in the middle with a low cross. The crowd groan. Then they roar as Adams feeds Christie in on the left. Christie shoots towards the bottom left. An effort on target! But Bushchan smothers, and the flag goes up for offside anyway. That’s got the crowd back onside, for a while, if nothing else.
60 min: Cooper flips Yarmolenko into the air, and is very fortunate to escape censure. Scotland are a ragged mess.
58 min: The Hampden crowd are beeling. First up, Yaremchuk nearly makes it three but his shot-cum-cross from the right dribbles inches wide of the left-hand post. Then McGinn slides in on Stepanenko and is booked for his trouble. Nothing’s going right for Scotland right now, and the home fans aren’t shy in voicing their displeasure.
Scotland’s John McGinn (left) slides in on Ukraine’s Taras Stepanenko and goes into the ref’s book. Photograph: Malcolm Mackenzie/PA56 min: Scotland are nearly gifted a route back into the game! Bushchan dithers over an admittedly poor backpass, and is closed down by McGregor. His clearing kick ricochets back off McGregor and nearly flies into the goal. Inches away from a total fiasco!
55 min: Tsygankov strides down the left and wins a corner off McTominay. The corner’s sent long. Karavaev whips an ambitious effort over the bar from 25 yards. The home crowd aren’t happy with Scotland’s inability to retain possession at all.
54 min: Yaremchuk overpowers Hanley down the left. Hanley falls over and sends the ball whistling out for a corner. The Hampden faithful demand a free kick, but Hanley was simply outmuscled, that’s all.
52 min: Ukraine are stroking it around imperiously now. Yarmolenko dances down the inside-right channel and creams a shot towards the bottom right. Gordon does well to get down and block, but this is beginning to get ominous for Scotland. A few boos ring around Hampden as a result.
50 min: That was a delightfully calm finish. Scotland are in big bother now. This scoreline doesn’t flatter Ukraine at all.
GOAL! Scotland 0-2 Ukraine (Yaremchuk 49)Yarmolenko dribbles down the right, reaches the touchline, and cuts back for Karavaev. A cross to the far stick. Yaremchuk rises easily over Hickey, a total mismatch, and guides a header back across Gordon and into the bottom right. So easy.
Roman Yaremchuk heads home to double Ukraine’s lead. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianYaremchuk celebrates with his team-mates. Photograph: Mark Runnacles/Getty ImagesAnd the fans. Photograph: Lee Smith/Action Images/Reuters48 min: Tsygankov rolls a pass down the left for Yaremchuk, who very nearly gets past Hanley and into the box. Hanley does well to hold his line and shepherd him away from danger.
46 min: Christie is immediately in the thick of it, striding past Mykolenko and rolling a pass towards the in-flight McGregor, romping down the middle. But a promising attack is brought to a halt by the referee, who spots Christie’s sly nudge forward with his arm.
Ukraine get the second half underway. Scotland have made a change, and it’s not a particularly surprising one. Dykes, ineffectual and on a booking, has been replaced by Christie.
Half-time reconnaissance. Ben Fisher was at the Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw, and his report on the Welsh warm-up for Sunday’s big one has landed.
HALF TIME: Scotland 0-1 UkraineA few boos from the home crowd as Scotland traipse off. It’s not that they’ve been particularly bad; it’s just that Ukraine have been demonstrably better. As things stand, Ukraine will travel to Cardiff to play Wales for a place in Qatar.
45 min: Dykes clumsily elbows Stepanenko on the back of the head as the pair contest a high ball. A no-brainer of a yellow card.
44 min: Malinovskyi drags a shot wide right from distance. He should have played Tsygankov clear down the inside-left channel instead. A fine chance to double Ukraine’s lead spurned.
42 min: Some good work by Hickey and Gilmour down the right. The ball’s cut back for McGregor, whose low drive is deflected towards McGinn, just inside the Ukraine box on the right. McGinn tries to round Matvienko, but the Ukraine defender slides in gracefully to scoop the ball off his toe and clear. The crowd wanted a first-time shot from a tight angle. One touch too many.
40 min: Zinchenko has the opportunity to send Yaremchuk clear down the middle, but doesn’t quite get enough juice on the pass and it’s intercepted by McTominay. On the touchline, Steve Clarke continues to exude calm, though he’s got a big half-time team-talk coming up.
38 min: Gilmour finds the full debutant Hickey in space down the right. Hickey floats a cross into the box. Easy pickings for Bushchan in the Ukraine goal.
36 min: Yarmolenko’s goal sucked a good proportion of the atmosphere out of Hampden back there, but after a couple of contemplative minutes, the crowd have rediscovered their voice.
34 min: That had been coming. Ukraine could have scored a couple already, and now they’ve got their reward.
GOAL! Scotland 0-1 Ukraine (Yarmolenko 33)Scotland’s back three are all over the shop. Malinovskyi passes long down the middle. Yarmolenko, played onside by Hanley, chases clear of Cooper, taking the ball down with one touch, opening his body, and sending a sidefooted lob over the out-rushing Gordon and into the unguarded net!
A deft lob frm Ukraine’s Andriy Yarmolenko opens the scoring. Photograph: Russell Cheyne/ReutersYarmolenko celebrates his goal. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianUkraine fans celebrate Yarmolenko’s goal. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianThey’re celebrating too at a bar in Kyiv. Photograph: Francisco Seco/AP32 min: Ukraine have enjoyed 58 percent of possession so far. No great surprise there.
31 min: Ukraine suddenly step up the tempo again, Zinchenko winning a corner down the left. The busy Dykes drops back to make sure nothing comes of it.
30 min: Ukraine spend a little time passing the ball around the back, reducing the pace for the first time this evening.