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Player, club face sanction over Putin shirt
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European soccer’s governing body UEFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against Lokomotiv Moscow midfielder Dmitri Tarasov for wearing a T-shirt praising Russian President Vladimir Putin after a Europa League match in Turkey.
The 28-year-old Tarasov removed his team jersey at the end of the game against Fenerbahce in Europe’s second-tier club competition in Istanbul on Tuesday, revealing a picture of Putin and the words: “The most polite president.”
Diplomatic relations between Russia and Turkey soured after a Russian war plane was shot down by the Turkish Air Force last November.
“This is my president. I respect him and decided to show that I am ready to support him wherever I am. I wrote on this T-shirt everything that I wanted to say,” Tarasov said after his side lost 0-2 in the first leg of the last-32 tie.
Russian sports news agency R-Sport quoted a UEFA source as saying that Tarasov could be banned for a minimum of 10 matches and that Lokomotiv may also face sanctions.
Igor Lebedev, State Duma Deputy and member of the Russian Football Union’s executive committee, criticized Tarasov.
“You can only say thank you for such a stupid gesture,” Lebedev said. “I respect him as a footballer but this kind of action is unforgivable for a person of this level. Patriotism is not shown on T-shirts or on pictures. A 3-0 victory against Fenerbahce would have been the highest level of patriotism and Tarasov would have been carried out of the stadium by the fans back to Moscow.”
Turkish police also detained three people after bottles were thrown at Russian team’s bus outside Istanbul’s Sukru Saracoglu Stadium. Police said the three people were drunk and that one of the bus’ windows was slightly cracked. Turkish media reported that those responsible were Fenerbahce fans.
“I didn’t mean to abuse anybody or provoke,” Tarasov told the Lifenews TV channel. “There’s nothing so terrible about what I did and people with sense, I believe, understand this clearly. Probably after the next match you will see me wearing another T-shirt with Putin’s image and a different slogan.”
He added that he had not expected such a strong reaction. “I wore this T-shirt in the past but nobody paid any attention to it,” Tarasov said.
In Lisbon, in-form striker Jonas headed a dramatic injury-time winner for Benfica as the Portuguese champion beat 10-man Zenit St Petersburg 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
Zenit midfielder Axel Witsel twice went close for the visitors in the second half, while Benfica’s Nico Gaitan was denied by a fine stop from Yuri Lodygin before Jonas nodded in late on after Domenico Criscito was sent off for the visitors.
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