ARTEM DZYUBA will be reinstated to the Russian national team following his masturbation video leak, his boss has confirmed.
The Zenit St Petersburg striker was dropped from this month’s matches after a video emerged online of him appearing to masturbate on camera.
A video emerged of Dzyuba onlineCredit: Twitter
Boss Cherchesov decided to temporarily drop his skipperCredit: AFP or licensors
Dzyuba, 32, was subsequently deemed a ‘distraction’ by his manager Stanislav Cherchesov, and the 6ft 6in target man was axed from the squad.
He subsequently bounced back, scoring in Zenit’s 3-1 victory over Krasnodar, wildly celebrating after fans had jeered him earlier in the game.
And he’ll be celebrating further still, after returning to national team contention for the next matches in March.
Boss Cherchesov, 57, said: “We gave him an opportunity to spend time with his family and to recover from the shock.
“Our next games will take place in spring.
“Time will pass and everyone will calm down, evaluating this situation under a different angle.
“Anyway, nobody dismissed him. We gave him an opportunity to calm the situation down.”
Dzyuba has become a mainstay of the Russian national team after being handed his debut by Dick Advocaat in 2011.
Dzyuba wildly celebrated his recent strike against KrasnodarCredit: Getty Images – Getty
He has since won 47 caps, scoring 26 goals.
Dzyuba rose to worldwide prominence in 2018, when he fired his side to an unlikely seeming World Cup quarter-final appearance.
Cherchesov subsequently appointed him captain.
Pilots make penis-shaped symbol on radar in solidarity with Russia’s football captain Artem Dzyuba axed for masturbating
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
