JAKARTA - Russian club Zenit St Petersburg suddenly decided to park their defender, Yaroslav Rakitskiy. The decision was taken at the last minute ahead of the match against Real Betis in the Europa League play-off round on Friday, February 25 in the morning.
Quoted from the Daily Star, Friday, February 25, Zenit made the surprising decision following the defender's upload on his social media. Where Rakitskiy firmly voiced his support for his home country by uploading a photo of the Ukrainian flag.
"I'm a Ukrainian," wrote the 32-year-old defender who accompanied his photo on Instagram.
Even though it is known that recently the political conditions between Russia and Ukraine are heating up. Even an invasion by Russia could trigger a third world war.
Regarding Rakitskiy's contribution to Zenit, the defender is known to have played 15 games this season. But ahead of the match against Betis in the Europa League this morning, he deliberately did not play.
Despite the decision to park Rakitskiy, the match between Zenit and Betis ended in a 0-0 draw in Spain. The Russian giants failed to qualify for the last 16 after losing 3-2 on aggregate.
Rakitskiy's presence at Zenit itself had caused controversy. Because after being officially signed in January 2019 from Shakhtar Donetsk, Ukrainians reacted strongly.
They labeled Rakitskiy a "traitor of the state" for accepting an offer from a Russian club, even though by that time tensions between the two countries were already heated.
In the aftermath of the transfer, Rakitskiy then never again received a call from the Ukrainian national team.
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