Chelsea's Mykhailo Mudryk delivers at U-21 Euros as Ukraine stun France to set up Spain semifinal
Mudryk won a penalty and provided an assist in a 3-1 win for Ukraine
By
James Benge
•
4 min read
Mykhailo Mudryk arguably should not even be at the Under 21 Euros (he ought to be doing what you doubtless are, watching all the action on CBS Sports Network and the Golazo Network). It certainly should not be considered a notable matter that one of the most expensive footballers in the history of the sport has just flayed a 20 year old forward with barely more than a season of professional experience in the tank. Here we are, however, six months on from the €100 million move that has weighed so heavily on the young Ukrainian that it threatened to drag him into London Colney's asthenosphere.
It is going to take an awful lot more games like the quarterfinals of the U-21 Euros before Mudryk looks anything like what he probably is, an athletically blessed footballer who was drastically overpriced for the technical quality he had displayed at Shakhtar Donetsk and has delivered in a Chelsea shirt. But Sunday at least brought the start of a new narrative with Mudryk on devastating form as Ukraine routed their way through the pre-tournament favorites, Mudryk providing an assist and winning a penalty in a 3-1 win over France along the way.
As early as the ninth minute, it was apparent that something about this occasion suited Mudryk, who had been carrying a calf injury that curtailed his involvement in the group stages. Perhaps there is nothing more to explain this bright start than France getting their tactics all wrong to deal with one of the most explosive forces in the sport. When he picks the ball up below, there are caverns of space for him to accelerate into. AC Milan's Pierre Kalulu, who would have all sorts of trouble with Mudryk last night, has been dragged infield meaning that young Lyon forward Bradley Barcola is dragged across when the ball is played wide.
Once Barcola is committed, Mudryk fires up the afterburners. No one is getting close to a man who clocked the fastest speed the Premier League had seen that season on his Chelsea debut in January. The woosh is never in doubt. The problem that so many noted, even before the Ukrainian headed west, was what happened when he had applied that pace to get him into a dangerous position. For once. he delivered, a clip finding the run of his former team mate Dmytro Kryskiv into the box.
Mudryk keeps his run going infield and though Ukraine aren't quite able to fashion a real test of Lucas Chevalier it sets the tone for how they and their star man will attack the contest, undimmed by Rayan Cherki's early strike which briefly gave France the lead. The Chelsea man poked and prodded down the left, waiting for the slightest misstep.
That came from Barcola once more, stepping forward as Mudryk shaped to move back towards his goal. Instead, he had merely been adjusting himself to get into his starting block, fizzing up the field in an instant. So swift was his charge, Kalulu did well to even get a boot on Mudryk, sent sprawling into the penalty area. Heorhiy Sudakov restored parity from the spot.
Winning the penalty was a mere amuse bouche from Mudryk. Even the more bullish end of the widely divergent assessments of his talent pre-Chelsea did not have him down as the sort of player who could drop into his own half and ping a pass worthy of Andrea Pirlo into the path of Sudakov. There is a lot of space to hit, and France's backline is utterly oblivious to the run through its heart, but it still takes technical excellence to drop a ball there.
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Ukraine are ahead!
What a ball from Mykhailo Mudryk, the first touch and finish from Heorhiy Sudakov is special. 🤌 pic.twitter.com/bzDxQtRr7n
Whether Mudryk has that was the biggest question that hung over a a player who, given the events of the past few years in his homeland, has often seemed to need nothing more than the period of quiet development that is simply not an option for a winger who, if add ons are taken into account, ranks among the dozen most expensive footballers in history. It remains baffling to see such players struggle to execute short passes and to play themselves into trouble with their first touch as Mudryk did even in one of his best performances in months.
This was, at least, a useful counterbalance to the collective view of the youngster that has coalesced over the past six months. Mudryk was a pawn as European football set about fleecing credulous Todd Boehly, a man determined to make a splash in the sport who would instead belly flop into an ocean of cash. Maybe Chelsea did get fleeced for an inferior player but, at somewhat lower price tags, Arsenal and Brentford had been in for Mudryk too. No one questions the eye for talent at either of those clubs.
Sunday's performance gave you a sense of what they saw. Not the finished article by any stretch of the imagination but then again this is the U-21 Euros, not the full fat version. Set against an opponent blessed with starlets, Chelsea's young star finally stood out for the right reasons. There's a long way indeed to go before he justifies a price tag he didn't set but, for the first time in a while, Mudryk at least looked to be on the right track.
