KAZAN, May 18, Vadim Kuznetsov. Head coach of the Kazan football club Rubin » Leonid Slutsky said that he was surprised by the appointment of referee Sergei Ivanov, whose actions he had previously criticized more than once, for his team's key match of the season with Ufa. «Rubin» will host Ufa on May 21 as part of the final round of the Russian Premier League (RPL). In case of defeat, Kazan will drop to 15th place in the standings and leave the RPL. In 2020, Slutsky was sent off by Ivanov during a match with Lokomotiv Moscow, subsequently the Rubin coach was suspended for two RPL matches for insulting behavior towards a match official. In 2021, during a game with St. Petersburg Zenit, Slutsky was again sent off by Ivanov for disputes. After the match, Slutsky called the referee “incompetent.” “It’s strange for me that referee Ivanov is appointed to the super-key match of the season. But what can we do now? It’s not in our right,” Slutsky told reporters. “Am I afraid before the last round of the RPL? What's the point of being afraid? The eyes are afraid, but the hands are doing. In the current situation, we have no right to indulge in some additional, non-constructive emotions. It's nice when the fans give their energy to the team. We can only rely on them in many ways. By conducting this action, we wanted to understand how close the team is to the city, the fans, how they care about the club here. For us today, every spectator in the stands is important, and therefore held such an action of unity with them. Who was the initiator? A joint decision of the coaches and players, «Slutsky emphasized.
