"Sad and sad," Nigmatullin on Russia's participation in the Asian tournament with Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan

Formerly renowned Russian goalkeeper Ruslan Nigmatullin reacted to the news that his country's national soccer team will play in an Asian tournament that includes such giants as Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan.

"To be honest, an international tournament is great for our national team. But the list of participants does not evoke any positive emotions with all due respect to those countries.

Of course, if there's no fish, there's a pike! But it's hard to talk about any motivation for the players. And I'm sad and sad to see Russia among the participants in such a tournament, "- said Nigmatullin.

Recall that since the Russian attack on Ukraine, Russian soccer has been banished from all international official tournaments both at club and national level.