Former Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv footballer Andriy Kanchelskis expressed confidence that Russian national team leader Alexander Golovin is not being invited to top European clubs because of his citizenship of the aggressor country. The former Manchester United player called Russian athletes "hostages of the political situation."

The native of Kirovohrad (now Kropyvnytskyi) said this in an interview with Metaratings.ru. Kancelskis suggested that Golovin, who plays for Monaco, would definitely have been invited to Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, and other clubs of this level if he were of a different nationality.

"Anything can happen due to the current political situation. I'm sure that this factor hinders even my career progress. What can I do? I have to continue playing for Monaco, which is a very good team fighting for the championship in France. And then life will show. We are hostages of the situation. We have to be satisfied with what we have now. Players have different periods. The main thing is to have stability and good play throughout the season," Kancelskis said.

Earlier, the Russian national football team became a laughingstock online again after it became known about its plans to play with Zanzibar and Tanzania.

As OBOZ.UA reported, Guinea's national football team is ready to play against Russia in 2024, which caused a hysterical reaction among Russian fans.

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