The first day of the third week of pre-season training in Slovenia for the blue-and-yellow team began with a practice session. Before traveling to Italy and Croatia, head coach Oleksandr Petrakov conducted a pre-game meeting.

The coaching staff is already working on tactics that will be used in the next two friendly matches, distributing squad assignments for players against "Empoli" and "Rijeka." Specifically, today's practice was preceded by a tactical session dedicated to analyzing the game of the Tuscan team.

Photos courtesy of the UAF press service

This afternoon, three of our players from foreign leagues arrived at the camp — Oleksandr Zubkov from Hungary's "Ferencváros," Taras Kachaраба from Czech Republic's "Slavia," and Danylo Sikan from Germany's "Hansa." The boys immediately joined their teammates. All three will fly to Italy with the national team this evening.

Photos courtesy of the UAF press service

On the other hand, two players will remain in Bled. Goalkeeper Anatolii Trubin, who is being released by Oleksandr Petrakov to join the youth national team camp in Turkey on May 17th, will fly independently tomorrow to the team's location. Meanwhile, defender Serhii Bulhets injured his Achilles tendon during morning practice and will remain in Slovenia for now.

Photos courtesy of the UAF press service

Thus, today at 8:30 PM Central European Time, a chartered flight from Ljubljana to Pisa will take off with 24 players. The Ukrainian team has already trained today, so there won't be the usual pre-match training session or press conference in Empoli, nor in Rijeka where the blue-and-yellow team will arrive on match day. However, a post-match interview with the head coach will definitely take place (Ukrainian media will receive a Zoom link through UAF's media channel).

Photos courtesy of the UAF press service

Today, after arriving in Pisa, the Ukrainian team will travel another 90 km by bus to Florence and check into the Hilton Florence Metropole hotel.

Tomorrow morning, the national team will train at the famous Italian Football Federation base in Coverciano, which is just a 25-minute drive from the hotel.

Two hours before the friendly match against Empoli, the squad will travel to Empoli: "Stadio Carlo Castellani" is approximately as far from the Hilton as the national team's base in Italy. After the game with "Empoli," the blue-and-yellow team will return to the hotel and depart for Rijeka the following morning.

Alexander Glyvinsky, press secretary of the Ukrainian national team

List of players in the Ukrainian national team

Goalkeepers: Georgii Bushchan ("Dynamo" Kyiv), Andriy Pyatov ("Shakhtar" Donetsk), Dmytro Ryshnyk ("Vorskla" Poltava), Andriy Lunin ("Real," Spain).

Defenders: Oleksandr Karavayev, Illia Zabarnyi, Oleksandr Syrota, Dmytro Popov (all — "Dynamo" Kyiv), Mykhailo Matviienko, Valerii Bondar, Yurym Konoplia (all — "Shakhtar" Donetsk), Vitaliy Mykolenko ("Everton," England), Eduard Sobolev ("Brugge," Belgium), Taras Kachaраба ("Slavia," Czech Republic).

Midfielders: Taras Stepanenko, Mykhailo Mudryk (both — "Shakhtar" Donetsk), Serhii Sydorchuk, Viktor Tsygankov, Mykhailo Shaparenko, Vitaliy Buyalskyi, Dmytro Harmash (all — "Dynamo" Kyiv), Serhii Bulhets ("Zorya" Luhansk), Oleksandr Pichalonok (SK "Dnipro-1"), Andriy Yarmolenko ("West Ham," England), Oleksandr Zinchenko ("Manchester City," England), Ruslan Malinovskiy ("Atalanta," Italy), Oleksandr Zubkov ("Ferencváros," Hungary).

Forwards: Artem Dovbyk (SK "Dnipro-1"), Artem Besedin ("Dynamo" Kyiv), Roman Yaremchuk ("Benfica," Portugal), Danylo Sikan ("Hansa," Germany).