Kharlamov, Cherdantsev and Mitrofanov attacked Bezrukov.
An unexpected scandal broke out following the results of the match of the postponed 21st round of the Russian Championship “Zenit” – “Rubin”, which, we recall, ended with a victory for the Kazan team with a score of 2:0. The RFU did not like the humorous statement of the Rubin midfielder Ruslana Bezrukova about “money to Krasnodar” – it was of personal interest to the general secretary of the union Maksim Mitrofanov. Rubin has already expressed its bewilderment at the RFU’s claims.
Will Bezrukov face punishment?
Has the RFU hinted that Bezrukov will receive a one-year ban?
Last Wednesday, Rubin created the main sensation of the tour by beating Zenit in St. Petersburg (2:0). This defeat was the first for the St. Petersburg team on their home field in 2024. Rubin midfielder Bezrukov did not hide his emotions from such a triumph during an interview with Match TV on the sideline. “We managed to survive, like Real Madrid did against Man City in the Champions League. “Krasnodar, we are waiting for money on the card,” he said on television.
The essence of the phrase: the defeat of Zenit played into the hands of Krasnodar. The St. Petersburg team takes first place in the standings, the Krasnodar team is second. They are now separated by just one point. If Zenit had drawn, the lead would have been two points, and if they had won, it would have been three. So in the near future, Krasnodar can still regain first place in the table.
And, of course, the phrase was not said seriously. From the intonation of the conversation, the very essence of the statement, it is completely clear that this is a joke. Bezrukov’s statement, as it initially seemed, did not attract any attention at all. However, the night before the media released a release from the RFU. It says that the phrase will be considered by the RFU Ethics Committee. The text emphasizes that the application with a request to evaluate the interview was sent personally by the general secretary of the union Mitrofanov. It is important to emphasize here that he worked at Zenit from 2006 to 2017 (first as deputy director for commercial activities, then as general director), and Zenit and the RFU have the same sponsor – Gazprom.
“Regardless of the context and format in which the statement of Rubin football player Ruslan Bezrukov was made, financial stimulation of an opponent by a third party is a gross violation of the principle of fair play and the RFU ethics regulations,” the union’s release says.
The RFU decided to remind that the general director of Urozhay was previously punished for a similar reason. Dmitriy Gradilenko. In 2019, as an investigation by the RFU established, he paid the players and head coach of Chernomorets 500 thousand rubles to defeat Chaika in a PFL match. Thus, they would have taken away points from the main competitor Urozhay for qualifying for the FNL.
However, get ready for a complicated story; during the break of the game, other people offered Chernomorets 2 million rubles. The meeting ended in the defeat of the team with a score of 1:3. Having not received the desired result, Gradilenko doubted the honesty of Chernomorets. “The guests, who did not concede a single goal in the last four matches, suddenly forgot how to play strictly in defense. Watch and leave a comment,” he wrote after the game on his social networks.
The RFU suspended Gradilenko for a year from all football activities. Is this a hint that Bezrukov will face the same punishment? At the very least, it is incorrect to compare these cases, because Bezrukov did not pay anyone anything, unlike Gradilenko.
Rubin: “The claims are puzzling”
To Rubin’s credit, the club did not remain silent and today outlined its position. According to Kazan residents, the claims are unfounded, and the union should, on the contrary, encourage lively and interesting interviews from football players. Yes, Bezrukov’s joke may seem harsh to some, but it’s definitely better than the monosyllabic answers of most football players and coaches that we constantly hear on Match TV.
“Ruslan is one of the most open football players in the RPL, who never refuses to communicate with journalists, and willingly participates in media activities, including the RFU. This is one of those players who makes our football industry better. The complaints against him because of a harmless joke after the victory over Zenit are puzzling. Such gestures only contribute to the fact that bright football players will more often refuse interviews in the future or completely limit themselves from communicating with the media,” Rubin expressed concern.
According to the Kazan club, Bezrukov’s phrase is “a joke against the backdrop of positive emotions from victory,” and there is no hint of “third party stimulation,” as the RFU indicates. “During the interview, Bezrukov tried to answer in a non-banal and witty manner and did not want to offend or offend anyone. FC Rubin hopes that this episode will be adequately assessed,” the statement says.
In any other situation, Rubin and Bezrukov would have been supported by the football community. All commentators, journalists and football speakers themselves constantly advocate openness and non-banality in interviews. But so far the discussion is moving in the opposite direction.
The day before, the episode received a separate analysis in the “After Football” program with Georgiy Cherdantsev: commentator in the company Igor Shalimova And Igor Korneeva I blamed Bezrukov for such a joke. And today videos from famous comedians have appeared on social networks.
“The main thing is that Krasnodar, when sending money to Bezrukov, does not confuse which Bezrukov specifically. Because, I’m afraid, Sergei will not understand why the money came. They came for “Yesenin”, they came for “Russian Soul”, they came for “Berezki”. What about football? For some kind of football? – joked Garik Kharlamov.
“We want to invite to our humorous community a wonderful comedian, an outstanding humorist, a fantastic improviser and part-time football player Ruslan Bezrukov. Dear Ruslan, your joke inspired us to write this song,” said Zurab Matua in company Andrey Averina And Dmitry Sorokina. And, sure enough, the trio then sang the song. In it, they suggested that Bezrukov’s mortgage was not closed, and there was no money on the card. “Quit football and go into humor,” the showmen advised Bezrukov.
Needless to say, both Match TV and TNT, with which the comedians have a contract, are part of the Gazprom Media holding. But on the site of the YouTube show “This is football, brother,” which is no longer associated with Gazprom, the situation was discussed from the other side. “How can you compare Bezrukov’s statement with the situation of Dmitry Gradilenko, this is generally a clownery,” said the famous tactical author Alexander Dorsky. “This ethics committee has already made one person deaf and dumb, now they still want to cut someone out?” – noted the football agent Timur GurtskayaI mean Sergei Jurana. Nizhny Novgorod’s head coach received a one-year suspended ban after calling the referees possums and has been making monosyllabic comments ever since.
Played with the fans, bought balls for the children and helped the RFU at the All-Star Game
Finally, let’s look into the persona of our hero. You can’t tell by his last name, but Ruslan is a Tatar. As she said in an interview with our publication, his last name is Timerbulatov. “At school I even wrote an essay about my last name. My father told me that one of my great-grandfathers was hospitalized unconscious during the war. They didn’t know what to call him in the documents – there were many wounded. He didn’t have a hand, that’s why they gave him the last name Bezrukov. Then the real name became clear – Timerbulatov.” Ruslan was born and raised in Rostov-on-Don and began playing football in the local team of the same name. I was even involved in training with the main team Valeria Karpina, but did not debut. Later he left for SKA-Rostov, and after that he ended up in Tatarstan.
Ruslan moved to Rubin in 2022 from Neftekhimik, when the Kazan club had just been relegated to the First League. It’s a funny story, but Bezrukov stayed in Nizhnekamsk for only a month and was immediately taken to Kazan. Ruslan fit perfectly into the criteria of a limiter and was in the starting lineup under the leadership of Leonida Slutsky. When after Slutsky and Yuri Utkulbaeva accepted the team Rashid Rakhimov – he saw Bezrukov in the position of full-back, but the young player could not stand the competition and rarely made it into the starting lineup.
Ruslan had a difficult position in the team – he almost did not appear on the field, but continued to work in training. He still lives at the club’s base and therefore always helps the club’s medical service to film any video or preview. Bezrukov went to the game with fans in the park, to a secondary school. By the way, then he met the boy Dima and gave him and his friends balls so that they could play football outside of school. At the training camp, Ruslan openly showed his room, how a football player lives at the training camp. Ruslan’s behavior is the very case when a player is open to fans and the press, and does not answer with monosyllabic sentences in order to quickly hide in the locker room from television cameras and questions.
In the fall, Bezrukov won his place in the starting position on the left edge of the defense. Despite his status as a bench player, before the starting football player, Bezrukov has not changed at all – without a shadow of star fever, he communicates with every fan who writes to him in private messages. After scoring a goal, he demonstratively celebrated the goal as Jude Bellingham from Real Madrid. Ruslan scored in the game against Fakel and his goal brought victory with a minimal result. As he admitted, he was motivated by watching a documentary about David Beckham. After the match, he walked up to the stands with fans, shook everyone’s hand and promised to sign autographs in the parking lot.
The younger generation loves media football for its openness, and the RFU is trying with all its might to attract the attention of children and teenagers to professional sports. For example, at the beginning of winter we held the All-Star Game with a format reminiscent of challenges from the world of media football. They invited one player from each club; Bezrukov went from Rubin. Not because I had to – at that time I could have already been on vacation.
Tags: Didnt joke Gazprom Rubin player faces sanctions Krasnodar money
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