Football player of the national team of Ukraine and London «Arsenal» Oleksandr Zinchenko gave a resonant interview. The athlete said that he would never shake hands with a person from Russia and did not even want to hear about this country. English fans have criticized the former Ufa player who intended to obtain Russian citizenship eight years ago.
From love to hateThe adult career of a guy from the Zhytomyr region began in Russia. Zinchenko moved from Shakhtar Donetsk to Ufa and quickly became one of the favorites of local fans. Yes, and he reciprocated. In an interview, Alexander even spoke about the possible acquisition of Russian citizenship.
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“I want to say that we are talking about purely football citizenship. The question has nothing to do with the situation in Ukraine. It can be said that this is the topic of football citizenship, nothing more. I can't wait to take the field with Ufa. Everything suits me in the club, the team is of a good level, there are high-class performers. We will work,” the Ukrainian said in 2015.
Later, he denied this information, otherwise they simply would not have understood at home. However, it was from Russia that Zinchenko moved to Manchester City, where he became a four-time English champion and a Champions League finalist. Now the player plays at Arsenal and feels great there. Another thing is that hatred of Russia seems to be eating him up from the inside. In an interview with the popular British presenter Piers Morgan, the Ukrainian was as harsh as possible towards our country and its citizens.
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"I'll be honest, I will never shake hands with a Russian, it's simply impossible. I don't understand their reaction. Well, many of them did nothing wrong to the Ukrainians, but they are silent. They do not react to what is happening. If they are so afraid, then let them never call Ukrainians brothers again, as they did before. In Russia I had a circle of friends, now they don't exist for me. They need to understand that the next generations will have to pay for their silence. To the children and grandchildren of these athletes,» Zinchenko said.
Criticism of the fans Alexander's words did not find support in England, even among Arsenal fans. To the British, the statements seemed offensive, and Zinchenko himself was subjected to quite powerful criticism on social networks. Under Morgan's post, fans urged not to mix politics and sports.
- «I can speak for all Arsenal fans, we don't support Zinchenko» , wrote I Speak for all Arsenal fans.
- «When Ozil was talking about the oppression of Muslim Uyghurs in China, you didn't care, Pierce,» 3pac noted.
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«This clown says that every Russian is bad and you just need to hate them for that. How can this be justified,” said Brian.
- «Truly Zinchenko is one of the most unpleasant figures in football. Even Arsenal fans admit it,» wrote Frank.
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«Zinchenko has been getting on my nerves lately with political nonsense,» said dugzino.
Morgan saw what comments users were leaving under his post and immediately wrote on social networks that such people should be ashamed of their behavior. However, this caused another negative reaction. It looks like the fans are really starting to get tired of what is happening. Let's remember how fans booed Ukrainian tennis players at Roland Garros for refusing to shake hands with Russians and Belarusians. Everyone wants to watch sports and think about sports achievements.