Albacete striker Roman Zozulya apologises over controversial comments

Albacete striker Roman Zozulya has issued an apology for controversial comments following his side’s match with Rayo Vallecano last weekend.

The two sides played out a 1-1 draw in Spain’s second tier this weekend with much of the debate around the match focused on the Ukrainian striker.

“I want to apologise to my teammates and to Albacete. My words are not compatible with the history of this club and this badge,” Zozulya said, in a Tweet posted by Albacete club media.

Zozulya told reporters after the match, as cited by Union Rayo and Marca, that he had been the subject of insults from the visiting Rayo fans: “When it all started I was a fascist.

“Then they started checking my Facebook and I became a Nazi. Recently they called me racist and today I didn’t listen but they told me that they yelled at me ‘communist’ – people don’t make any sense.

“It would not surprise me what they called me next.”

This is linked to a long-running saga between Zozulya and Rayo – his former club for whom he never made an appearance.

The two club’s clash in Vallecas earlier this season was the first match in Spanish football to be postponed due to chants from the stands, directed towards the striker.

The match was called off at half-time due to insults directed from the home fans at Vallecas towards the Ukrainian, which were alleging that the player held extreme right-wing political views.

This was an incident that garnered major controversy in Spain as no game had ever been suspended due to racist chanting, homophobia or xenophobia previously.

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