Singapore: Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil thanked all the fans for their ‘love’ at a pre-season friendly with Atletico Madrid after a torrid week that saw him quit international football with Germany.
The 29-year-old Ozil who announced his retirement last week following complaints of ‘racism and disrespect’ from the German Football Federation watched Arsenal go down on penalties from the bench Thursday but received one of the biggest cheers of the night when his image was flashed up on the big screen. Both the teams ended 1-1 after regulation time.
“Thanks to the Gunners in Singapore for showing so much love tonight,” Ozil tweeted, with a picture of him waving to the crowd.
Arsenal’s new head coach, Unai Emery and all the players also lended their support to Ozil throughout the pre-season tour, while the hashtags #StandWithOzil and #SayNoToRacism have been popular on social media.
“Of course everybody supports Mesut. We’re with him, we’re trying to help him,” Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan told this agency this week.
“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.”
However, German football chief Reinhard Grindel rejected the racism charge but admitted he should have defended Ozil after the playmaker was abused for having a photograph taken with Turkey’s strongman president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Ozil, who was born in Germany to Turkish-origin parents and lifted the World Cup in 2014, also felt he was unfairly singled out for their shock group-stage exit at this year’s tournament.
