Plymouth’s Maksym Talovierov: ‘When the fans cheer, it just goes inside of me’

Ukraine defender on his parents enduring the war, the generosity of fans and facing Manchester City in the FA Cup

Suddenly talking about celebrating tackles with gladiatorial grace and the prospect of swapping shirts with Erling Haaland feels rather insignificant. Maksym Talovierov, known as Maxi, is detailing the sobering reality of life since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “It’s really hard because for three years every morning I wake up and I see a lot of notifications about rockets and missiles in every city, including Kyiv, where my parents are,” the Plymouth defender says. “I text them immediately to see how they’re doing. ‘Are you in the [underground] car park? Are you in the metro?’ Because when they [Russia] are bombing and it’s dangerous, that’s where they go because they are the closest things to safe zones.”

The 24-year-old has not seen his mother, Maryna, and father, Vadym, a former professional footballer, for three and a half years. “Sometimes they might not have a connection or wifi and then it’s stressful because they don’t respond and you don’t know what’s going on. On the news it might say: ‘In this area of Kyiv, five rockets.’ But you never know exactly where.