Simonyan: I don’t want to think that Ozbiliz is not playing due to nationality

The first vice-president of the Russian Football Union, Nikita Simonyan, commented on the latest developments with respect to Armenia national squad and FC Spartak Moscow (Russia) players Yura Movsisyan and Aras Ozbiliz.

“I don’t want to believe that Ozbiliz is not playing [in the Spartak main squad] because of a national issue. But in that case, [manager] Yakin should not have brought Movsisyan into the pitch, too.

“Yakin knew where he was coming; he knew that there are two Armenians in the team. And that’s why I don’t believe in the existence of a national issue; the level of play determines everything,” Sovsport quoted Simonyan as saying.

As reported earlier, midfielder Aras Ozbiliz had criticized Spartak’s Swiss Turkish manager Murat Yakin by stating that the latter had taken him off the main Spartak squad because of his being Armenian. But later, Ozbiliz said his words were misrepresented.

Forward Yura Movsisyan, on the other hand, had stated that Spartak were playing better when former manager Valeri Karpin was at helm. Subsequently, the Russian club prohibited the Armenia international to speak with the media.

Afterward, Spartak Moscow owner Leonid Fedun instructed the club’s relevant department to work on the transfer of these two Armenia internationals.