Mesut Ozil Thanks Arsenal Fans Post Germany’s Racism Row

Germany’s Mesut Ozil recently retired from international football after the country failed to reach the pre-quarters of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The footballer who has Turkish roots, in a four-page long statement accused of German boss Reinhard Grindel of racism. “In the eyes of Grindel and his supporters, I am German when we win, but I am an immigrant when we lose. I say this openly that the personal criticism has affected me. I am even more sorry for my colleagues, the many people working on a voluntary basis and the employees in the DFB, to be branded in connection with racism. For the federation as well as for me personally, I firmly reject this.”

Grindel accepted his mistake but has vehemently denied the allegations of racism. Now, Ozil is currently playing the pre-season friendly games for Arsenal. Obviously, the fans turned out in huge numbers to get the glimpse of their favourite footballer. Ozil was on the bench watching the penalties and he received a big cheer from the crow as soon as his image was flashed up on the screen. Ozil thanked the fans for the love he got in Singapore.

Ozil took to Twitter and wrote, “Thanks to the Gunners in Singapore for showing so much love tonight." He also posted a picture of himself signing autographs with the fans.

Talking about racism, Ozil’s team Arsenal have supported him. Hashtags # #StandWithOzil and #SayNoToRacism have been doing rounds of the social media. Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan spoke to a news agency and said, “Of course everybody supports Mesut. We're with him, we're trying to help him. Everyone knows that Arsenal is a team with a lot of foreign players and foreign employees. It doesn't matter which country you represent, it's like family and we support each other."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 27, 2018 09:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).