Legia Warsaw has made a formal request to UEFA to take action regarding a banner unfurled by Cypriot Omonia fans ahead of a Conference League match on Thursday evening, 28 November.
A banner placed on the north stand of the GSP Stadium in Nicosia read: “17/1/1945 The Red Army liberated Warsaw.” This slogan, which refers to the liberation of the capital of Poland by Soviet troops, caused indignation among Legia fans, who called the performance “scandalous” and accused Omonia of distorting the historical truth.
“On behalf of the club and the memory of those who gave their lives for the freedom of Warsaw and Poland, we contacted UEFA demanding an immediate response,” Legia representatives said.
The situation caused a wide resonance in Poland. The chairman of the Polish Football Association, Senary Kulesza, called the banner “offensive” and demanded that UEFA take strict action. In turn, the Polish Embassy in Nicosia noted that the Red Army liberated Poland from the Nazis, but its troops remained on Polish territory for almost 50 years. “There is no room for inaccuracies in either history or sport,” the diplomats said.
On the field, Legia won with a score of 3:0. The goals were scored by Rioja Morisita, Mateusz Szczepaniak and Paweł Wszolek. The Polish team is second in the group, behind Chelsea only on goal difference, and continues to fight for access to the playoffs.
The Russian embassy commented on the situation with the scandalous banner.
The head of the Russian diplomatic mission, Murat Zyazikov, said that with the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Victory approaching, he was not surprised by the reaction of the fans of the Cypriot team. “The Cypriots and I are united by common spiritual values and a common fight against the brown plague. Not a single event of our compatriots dedicated to the Great Victory over fascism takes place without our many Cypriot friends. And the appearance in the stands of the Omonia match of a banner about the liberation of the capital of Poland by Soviet troops is simply a statement of a historical fact,” noted the Russian Ambassador.
He recalled that the Red Army liberated Warsaw, fighting shoulder to shoulder with the 1st Army of the Polish Army. “They gave their lives together for the victory over fascism and together they reached Berlin. In Poland itself, we also have many friends who share common values and strive for good neighborly relations between Moscow and Warsaw. Regarding the intentions to belittle the merits of the winners in that war, I can only say one thing: any attempts to cancel or rewrite history are doomed to failure,” Zyazikov concluded.
Omonia is often called the people's club and the team of the Cypriot working class. The club enjoys record popularity on the island, as well as the support of the opposition left-oriented Progressive Party of the Working People of Cyprus, whose supporters traditionally have good feelings towards Russia and the USSR.
Our subscribers who attended the scandalous match noted that far-left banners with the image of Che Guevara, “Marx, Engels, Lenin,” and even the flag of Palestine were traditionally hung in the stands of Omonia fans.
300 Polish Legia fans who came from Warsaw were not allowed into the GSP stadium at all.
Source: cyprus-mail.com tass.ru
