The 2018 World Cup hosts Russia’s fairytale run at the tournament ended after they were knocked out by Croatia in the quarterfinal by Croatia.
As the match ended 2-2 after extra-time the game had to be settled through a penalty shoot-out which the host nation unfortunately bottled.
Russia missed two spot-kicks catapulting Croatia to a 3-4 victory who will now face England in the semi-finals on Wednesday.
Much like a lot of other countries, the Russian fans were not at all upset with their team and most of them were satisfied that the national team was able to reach the quarterfinals.
But after the defeat, a lot of fans noticed one uncanny thing which now has become the centre of debate.
During Russia’s quarterfinals loss, President Vladimir Putin was not present inside the stadium which has certainly raised a number of eyebrows.
Now though, Kremlin has released a statement clarifying the absence of Vladimir Putin during Russia’s exit from the World Cup.
Talking to Reuters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that the President was only scheduled to be present during the opening and the closing games of the 2018 World Cup meaning that Putin was not expected to be present in the VIP box during the quarterfinal.
Peskov said: “He doesn’t play soccer himself, but naturally like the overwhelming majority of Russians, he is a fan. Of course, he isn’t obsessive — he can’t be an obsessive fan because he can’t permit himself this — but he likes interesting football,”
But a Moscow-based political analyst has gone on to claim that the real reason why Vladimir Putin was absent during the game was due to the fact that the President does not want to associate himself with defeats and losses.
Political analyst Valery Solovey said: “Vladimir Putin likes to be associated with victories and triumphs but doesn’t like to be associated with defeats and losses. He’s always had this trait and it has grown with time,”
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