“The Russians are scared of us now.” – Former Arsenal defender on his fight against Russia

“The Russians are scared of us now.” – Former Arsenal defender on his fight against Russia

Former Arsenal defender Oleg Luzhny has stated that he did not hesitate to go back to Ukraine, to fight for his country and claimed that Russians are scared of the Ukrainians.

The 53-year-old, who also played for Wolverhampton Wanderers, has been away from his family in Kyiv and has opened up about the “very tough” situation. He has joined Ukraine’s territorial defence forces as the war continues, with Russian troops advancing on the city of Mariupol.

Talking about the situation, Oleg Luzhny told Sky Sports, that the situation is very critical and very dangerous.

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“The situation now in Ukraine is very, very tough, because of… our Russian neighbour.

“Everyone is surprised about this situation. And the situation is very dangerous.

“The Russians have destroyed a lot of houses, business centres, roads as well. Sometimes the missiles are coming two or three times during the days, and at midnight as well. It is not a good situation, very very dangerous.

“It was an easy decision [to join the territorial defence forces] because I love this country. I want to fight with my friends to stay and fight [against] the Russian army.”

Luzhny has spent time as interim manager of Dynamo Kyiv, as well as serving as an assistant during Alyaksandr Khatskevich’s time in charge of the club, but has put his coaching career on hold to join the fight.

Further, he addressed his decision to leave for Ukraine and join the forces and help his countrymen.

He said, “It was an easy decision to come back here. I love this country. I want to fight with my friends to defend my country, against the Russian army. Everyone has to fight. You have to fight for your country. It was an easy decision.

“We have groups of five or six people and some policemen. And we have a special area we walk around for 12 hours, every two or three days.

“It’s hard of course. It’s difficult, but I am okay. There has been a lot of damage to our country. Here in Kyiv, it’s okay, not too much. But in the country, in Mariupol, it is much harder.

“My wife stays here with me and my children stay away. They have their own jobs. All my friends are staying to fight. No one is leaving.

“I don’t know when I will see my family again. When this war ends, after we win and we have one big party. I don’t know if we will have peace soon. The situation is not under control. We don’t know what Putin has in his brain.

“We don’t panic. We are strong inside. We have a good spirit inside. Our soldiers are fantastic. They are not scared of the Russians.

“The Russians are scared of us now. Because they are going back home now. We have good positive feelings.”

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FIFA, UEFA isolate Russian teams from competitions

UEFA FIFA Russia

The Ukraine-Russia conflict has already had repercussions in the sporting world and reports suggest that UEFA, European football’s governing body, has taken the decision to move this season’s Champions League final away from Saint Petersburg in Russia to Paris. The Champions League final was due to take place at the 68,000-capacity Gazprom Arena in St Petersburg on May 28 but UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin confirmed the decision to move the match.

Further, FIFA and UEFA suspend Russia until further notice. The suspension means that, barring an unlikely change of course in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the country will not face Poland in a World Cup play-off semi-final next month; UEFA has also terminated its deal with energy company Gazprom; Spartak Moscow threw out of Europa League

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