Valeriy Lobanovskyi defined what it is to be Ukrainian, not Russian

In 1986 a Ukrainian manager led a mostly Ukrainian team to the world cup under the USSR flag, he is now a symbol to a culture under attack, writes Simon O’Hagan

Valeriy Lobanovskyi during the European Championship match against England in Germany, 1988 (Getty)

Through the centre of Kyiv runs a wide boulevard called Lobanovskyi Avenue. It was here that a Russian shell struck an apartment building during the first two days of the invasion of Ukraine, providing one of the most vivid images so far of the horrors unleashed by Vladimir Putin.

Lobanovskyi Avenue is named in honour of one of the greats of Ukrainian history – a man who stood for everything that Russia is now seeking to destroy. That man was Valeriy Lobanovskyi, and he was the father of Ukrainian football.

Was it coincidence that this was where that shell was aimed? Or was it a deliberate attempt to strike at the memory of so revered a figure, responsible for putting Ukraine on the world map as no one else has?