ARSENAL deleted a tweet wishing Andrey Arshavin a happy birthday after a furious backlash.
Former forward Arshavin turned 42 on Monday.
And the club posted a video of his memorable four goals in the 4-4 draw with Liverpool in 2009, alongside the message: “Wishing you a great day, Andrey.”
But the post received criticism from Ukrainians due to Arshavin being Russian.
The two nations have been at war since February 2022 when Vladimir Putin’s troops invaded Ukraine, the home nation of Gunners left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Arshavin, who scored 31 goals in 144 Arsenal appearances between 2008 and 2013, regularly works for Russian TV as a pundit but reportedly agreed to fight in the army should he get conscripted.
READ MORE ON ARSENAL
And furious supporters slammed the North London side for the birthday post.
Ukrainian football account @ZoryaLondonsk said: “It’s another week and it’s another club throwing itself into a social media scandal involving ‘good fortune’ towards Russia / a Russian…
“Last October, Arshavin said he’d serve in the Russian army (vs Ukraine) if conscripted and regularly works for Russian state TV… Terrible optics.”
@KarpatyLvivFC added: “28 May: Russian army attacked Zhytomyr region, home region of Alex Zinchenko, by a missile strike.
Most read in Football
“29 May: Arsenal send greetings to Russian player Andrey Arshavin.
“How Zinchenko and all Ukrainians must feel about it, @Arsenal?”
The original Gunners tweet was soon deleted and removed from the club’s profile, which has 21.6million followers.
Arshavin joined from Zenit under Arsene Wenger but failed to win any trophies in his five years – but did etch his name into Arsenal folklore with that memorable performance at Anfield.
He returned to his boyhood club in 2013 and had spells with Kuban Krasnodar and Kairat before retiring in 2018.
Arshavin made 75 caps for Russia and came sixth in the 2008 Ballon d’Or.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
