Tsiknizyan Defends Spertsyans Against Racism Allegations

The defender of the Armenian national team and Crvena Zvezda, Nair Tsiknizyan, has defended FC Krasnodar midfielder Eduard Spertsyans concerning racism allegations related to an incident during the 11th round of the RPL match against Akhmat.

"I have known Eduard Spertsyans for a long time. He is a polite and modest person who would never allow anyone to be insulted on a racist basis. Football is full of emotions, but Spertsyans can manage them and direct them in the right way," Tsiknizyan stated in an interview with Metaratings.ru.

The incident occurred in the 85th minute of the game when Akhmat defender Usman Ndong collided with Spertsyans. After a VAR review, referee Inal Tanshev issued a red card to Ndong, while Spertsyans received a yellow card for provocative behavior.

After the match, Ndong accused Spertsyans of using racist remarks in Portuguese, while Spertsyans asserted that Ndong had insulted his mother in Spanish.