A veteran of Moscow “Spartak” and the USSR national team Yevgeny Lovchev, St. Petersburg “Zenith” football player admitted that he was surprised at the negative reaction to Claudinho’s words that he wants to play for the Brazilian national team, and despite the Russian passport, it is not Russia.
“I was surprised by the negative reaction to this statement because when they initially asked for a passport, none of the Brazilians said they wanted to play for the Russian national team.
I think that to benefit both the players themselves and Zenit, they initially have a passport, ”Lovchev wrote, telegraph channel.
Claudinho has previously stated that he is not considering the option of playing for the Russian national team, as he is aiming to join the Brazilian national team.
In the summer of 2022, the Brazilian players of Zenit Malcolm and Claudinho announced that they want to stay with the team from the shores of the Neva for the next season. Later, they themselves started the procedure for obtaining a passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation. In the spring of 2023, both players received Russian citizenship by decree of the President of the Russian Federation.
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