Dynamo Moscow’s president has vowed to find and punish fans who shot at players using paintball rifles at the soccer club’s training ground on Friday.
“They are idiots,” Gennady Solovyov told local media after a group of fans in camouflage arrived at the club’s base in the town of Novogorsk, just north of Moscow, and fired a barrage of paintballs at players and staff.
“I have no other words to describe those who could do such things. I promise I’ll do my best to try to find and punish those responsible for these actions,” said Solovyov, a retired KGB general.
Dynamo midfielder Alan Gatagov said: “I was hit in the back of the head when they shot at us. Lots of players were also hit. I just can’t find the right words. What are we supposed to do now? Should each of us hire a personal bodyguard?”
Reports said fans also scattered leaflets addressed to the club’s foreign players such as former Germany striker Kevin Kuranyi, Australia international Luke Wilkshire, Hungary’s Balazs Dzsudzsak and Ecuador’s Cristian Noboa, warning them to boost their performances or pay the consequences.
“This is the final warning. We’re not going to support these losers anymore,” said the leaflet, which carried a picture of Kuranyi, Dzsudzsak, Noboa and Argentina’s Leandro Fernandez. “They are killing Dynamo’s football, get rid of them.”
Friday’s incident was the latest in a series of protests by Dynamo fans, dissatisfied with the club’s dismal results this season.
“We are certain it was a planned and organized action,” the club said on their Web site.
Dynamo, the country’s oldest football club who have never been relegated, were bottom of the league after losing seven of eight games at the start of the season.
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