Russia captain Artyom Dzyuba revealed that his family made him not join the national team’s training camp and his decision is in no way related to politics.
Dzyuba, 33, is said to have relatives in Ukraine.
But he said coach Valery Karpin’s suggestion that he had declined a call-up over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was “a misunderstanding”.
“It is to do with family matters, but I would rather not go into detail,” said Zenit St Petersburg striker Dzyuba.
“At this point in time, I wanted to spend time with my family,” he added. “I did not go with the Russian team [but that was] not because of political aspects.”
Karpin said Dzyuba, Russia’s all-time joint-leading scorer with 30 goals, had asked to not be included in the training camp “given the difficult situation in Ukraine”.Dzyuba said: “I think there was a misunderstanding. Valery [Karpin] did not understand me correctly, or my words were misinterpreted.”
BBC reported that Russian football clubs and national teams have been suspended from all competitions by Fifa and Uefa following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
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