Odesa football club defender offended russians

Chornomorets Odesa defender Yaroslav Rakytskyi has spoken out sharply about his career in Russia, insulting Russians and admitting that it prevented him from playing for the national team. His words caused a wave of outrage among Russian commentators and officials.

This was reported by Oboz.ua.

Former Shakhtar Donetsk and Ukrainian national team player Yaroslav Rakytskyi caused a scandal in Russia after making harsh comments about his game for Zenit St. Petersburg. The Chornomorets Odesa defender openly insulted Russians and said that his career in the aggressor country prevented him from playing for the national team.

In response, Russian commentator Dmitry Guberniev spoke harshly about the Ukrainian footballer. He said that when he heard his words, he wondered who he was and considered him "just an animal." "They are all capable of getting rugs, and now they say 'I am not me, the horse is not mine,'" the commentator added.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also criticized Rakitsky, calling him a pervert for using foul language."It seems he was referring to his personal life. We have a free country, adults can do what they want, the main thing is not to promote it to children," she said.

Previously, Rakitsky played for Zenit from 2019 to 2022 and left Russia after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In June, during a soccer medialiga match between FC Armat and Odesa Media Football Team, 16-year-old Renat Popruzhnyi from Odesa made a remark to veteran and Ministry of Youth and Sports official Yevhen Selezniov about the language he used on the field, after which he received an aggressive and rude response.

The video of the incident appeared on social media and caused outrage, and a few days later, the Odesa Media Football Team club terminated its cooperation with Renat, publicly calling him and his father provocateurs and apologizing to Selezniov.

Анна Бальчінос