The Ukrainian football club Dynamo from Kyiv told the Turkish Fenerbahce that it has "blood on its hands" for going to Russia for a friendly match with Zenit from St. Petersburg.
Dinamo posted a statement on its Instagram account with red spots on the logo of Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom, the longtime owner and sponsor of Zenit.
"The blood money of Gazprom overshadowed all of you, it left you without conscience and honor. Nothing can justify this step. No amount of money can compensate you for this shameful behavior," he told the Dinamo club from Istanbul.
Yesterday's match between Zenit and Fenerbahce ended goalless.
Fenerbahçe announced that he accepted the invitation to Russia after visiting Zenit in Istanbul. Those teams played a humanitarian match in March to help the victims of the devastating earthquake that hit the border region of Turkey and Syria.
A few days after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Football Union (UEFA) terminated cooperation with Gazprom as a sponsor of the Champions League and the European Championship in 2024.
Uefa also suspended all Russian teams from its competitions and deprived it of hosting the final of the Champions League, which was supposed to take place at Zenita Stadium.
A year ago, when Fenerbahce and Dinamo met in a Champions League qualifier, fans in Istanbul chanted the name of Russian President Vladimir Putin after the Ukrainian team scored.
Fenerbahçe then announced that the chanting of the fans did not represent the club's views, but he also noted that such a reaction of the fans followed the provocations of the Dinamo players.
Uefa fined the Turkish club 50.000 euros for that. There were no similar incidents when the teams met twice last season in the Europa League group stage. Fenerbahçe won both games.
Both Dinamo and Fenerbahçe will play in the qualification for the Conference League in the next month and could find themselves in the same group again if they pass the qualification.
The team from Kiev does not play European matches in Ukraine for security reasons, and last season it played in Poland as a host.
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