Absolute outrage in Ukraine for a video made by two FC Barcelona players thanking the support of the Russian fans. Sergi Roberto and Alejandro Balde recorded a greeting for a Russian media outlet that has caused great discomfort in Ukraine. "We consider it an intolerable and simply immoral act," denounced Shakhtar Donetsk in a harsh message condemning the Blaugrana club.
For its part, FC Barcelona maintains that the video was made "absolutely innocent" during an act organized by LaLiga, sources from the Catalan club have explained to EFE. As Barça clarified, LaLiga periodically organizes conferences for its teams to attend to the foreign media that have the rights to the competition. And that the greeting of his two players was recorded on one of those days, at the Johan Cruyff Stadium.
In this stadium attached to the Joan Gamper Sports City, the players spoke to various media, including Okko Sports, which exploits the rights of LaLiga in Russia. And, at the end of the day, "skipping the script", Okko Sports asked Sergi Roberto and Balde for permission to record a short video where both had to greet the Russian fans who were following the competition.
"Greetings to all the Barça fans in Russia. See you soon. Regards". "Russian fans, thank you very much for your support and your encouragement. This is also part of you, so let's hope we can get many more," said these messages recorded in Spanish and subtitled in Russian. An "innocent act of the players", which, according to the Barça entity, skipped "all the filters" by not asking permission from LaLiga, organizer of the act, to record the video in question, just 14 seconds long.
Shakhtar Donetsk and Dinamo Kyiv charged Barça hard and asked the club to "admit its mistake and avoid similar situations in the future." "While our soldiers rehabilitate in Barcelona, FC Barcelona players Sergi Roberto and Alejandro Balde record a video message to the fans of the country that is killing Ukrainians, killing children and destroying our cities right now," the Shakhtar wrote on his account. Twitter.
The message refers to Ukrainian soldiers wounded in the war receiving treatment in Barcelona paid for by Shakhtar, which had to leave its city, Donetsk, in 2014, when it was declared the capital of a new breakaway republic by Moscow-backed militiamen.
"There are no victories or hundreds of thousands of shirts sold that are worth a human life," adds the Facebook message, which includes screenshots of the message transmitted to Russian Barcelona fans along with two wounded soldiers recovering in Barcelona.
For its part, Dynamo Kiev wrote on its Twitter account: "We strongly recommend FC Barcelona players to approach their Russian fans and request to participate in the Russian championship." The text is accompanied by images of a stadium in deplorable conditions and the hashtag
