On Thursday the famous Brazilian wingback Roberto Carlos criticized fans of the Russian national team for their hostile reception of Yury Zhirkov during Russia's 1-0 defeat of Serbia on Wednesday.

      

Despite a bright performance, Zhirkov suffered incessant boos and whistles from a 20,000-strong crowd. Obviously, the footaball fans were dissatisfied by his move this week from Chelsea to Russian Premier League side Anzhi Makhachkala. 

      

"When your favourite team is on the playing field, you should applaud the players on your side, not whistle at them. It doesn't matter which club Zhirkov plays for, it only matters that he plays for the national team.", Roberto Karlos, now a teammante at Anzhi, said. He himself joined Anzhi from Corinthians in February for a fee thought to be around 10 million euros and has been the target of aggression from the Russian stands.

      

All conflicts of that kind are usually related with ingrained nationalism among the Russian fans. Some of them insist on compliance of football player's nationality with the place of his work. 

      

Moreover, Anzhi have brought out envy among many Russian fans for a spending spree funded by new billionaire owner Suleiman Kerimov that has helped catapult them into the top half of the Premier League. Media reports say Inter Milan's Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o is on the verge of signing a four-year deal.

      

Yuri Zhirkov said he didn't bear a grudge against football fans, but he couldn't understand why they behaved in that way. "I think, many of them weren't our fans at all. It could be provocation of some kind", he said in the interview for "The Soviet Sport" newspaper. 

      

Football officials have condemned the aggression as unprecedented and threatened to take action against  the perpetrators. 

      

Sources: Lenta.ru RIA Novosti

      

Related News: Anzhi Paid 15mln EUR for Zhirkov (8.08.2011)

Author: Julia Alieva

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