27 Sep 2017, 17:30

Russia's top diplomat praises Spartak FC for courage in playing against Liverpool

The Russian foreign minister said on numerous occasions that he had been a fan of Spartak FC for many years

© Artyom Korotayev/TASS

MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that his favorite football club Spartak played courageously on Tuesday night in Moscow against Liverpool FC in a match of the UEFA Champions League.

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Lavrov shows phone with Spartak logo when replying to question on favorite football club

The match of the UEFA Champions League in Group E between Spartak and Liverpool FCs ended on Tuesday night at the Okrytie-Arena in the Russian capital with 1-1 draw and the game’s attendance was registered at about 43,000 spectators.

Lavrov, who is known to be an avid supporter of Spartak FC, thanked Israel’s Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Environmental Protection Ze’ev Elkin for watching together the game of his favorite football club against Liverpool last night.

"I would like to express my satisfaction that we both watched a football match, which demonstrated a courageous play of my favorite team Spartak," Lavrov said at a meeting with the Israeli official in Moscow on Wednesday.

The Russian foreign minister said on numerous occasions that he had been a fan of Spartak FC for many years.

In June this year at a meeting with students of the Baltic Federal University in the country’s westernmost city of Kaliningrad, Lavrov was asked by one of the students about the minister’s favorite national football club.

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Russian football official denies reports of racist chants at Spartak-Liverpool match

The top diplomat of Russia did not hesitate and saying "if you can see it from here" demonstrated to the audience at the university the reverse panel of his mobile phone, which displayed the official red-and-white logo of Spartak Moscow football club.

Following two draws in the opening group stage matches (1-1 against Slovenia’s Maribor FC on September 13 and 1-1 against Liverpool on Tuesday), Spartak FC is currently in 2nd place of its Group E and is scheduled to play at home against Spain’s Sevilla FC on October 17.

Spartak is scheduled to play away its return match against Liverpool at Anfield Arena on December 6.

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