Before the start of the Spartak – Sochi match, the red and white coach Guillermo Abascal explained the absence of Ruslan Litvinov in the squad by saying that the player had been injured before going to the Russian national team, but for some reason he played 90 minutes in a friendly match. The Spanish specialist said that they talked about this.
The head doctor of the Russian football team, Vladimir Khaitin, responded that there was no request from Spartak.
“The comment of the head coach of Spartak about Ruslan Litvinov, to put it mildly, caused surprise. Using the example of Sergei Pinyaev, one can understand the position of the technical and medical staff of the Russian national team: always and definitely not risk the health of the players at the slightest suspicion of risk of aggravating the injury,” he quotes “Match TV”
He continued that before the match the players were asked questions about their health, but Litvinov did not say that he could not play and did not ask for a replacement.
“I will add that before starting to collect requests and recommendations for the removal of Litvinov from the Spartak training process, we did not receive them, however, the player himself complained about a chronic problem that did not limit participation in the training processes and game”. added the Russian team doctor, who stressed that they had not received any recommendation or request from Spartak.
