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Krasnodar Players Slammed After Only Four Take Knee In Support Of Black Lives Matter

Krasnodar Players Slammed After Only Four Take Knee In Support Of Black Lives Matter

Chelsea's XI showed support for the movement, but it was mixed among their opponents.

Alex Reid

Alex Reid

Seven of Krasnodar's starting XI were blasted on social media for not taking a knee in support of Black Lives Matter, before their Champions League tie with Chelsea.

Showing solidarity with the BLM movement has become customary before kick-off and all of Chelsea's players took a knee. The Blues then won 4-0 win with goals from Callum Hudson-Odoi, Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic, in front of a watching Roman Abramovich.

Yet it was the Russian team's display before the match even began that provoked anger on Twitter, as only four Krasnodar players took the knee to support a movement which stands against racial oppression and police brutality.

"Hey BT Sport, why are you cutting away from the Krasnodar players not taking the knee? Keep the camera on them and shame them," said one tweet.

"Really want Krasnodar to get smoked now after that refusal to take a knee," came the message from an Arsenal fan, who got their wish on this particular occasion.

Another comment read: "Wow. Watching the UEFA champions league game between Chelsea and Krasnodar in Russia and they took a knee for the end racism campaign and more than half of Krasnodar team stood. Just crazy how open racism still is in so many parts of the world."

Taking a knee is not compulsory in UEFA competitions, it must be said. And the gesture has not necessarily been adopted in every nation.

Marseille players stood while Manchester City's starting XI took the knee in support of Black Lives Matter before their Champions League group game on Tuesday.

But reports claimed afterwards that the Marseille players opted for a one minute's silence in memory of Samuel Paty - a teacher murdered in a terrorist attack last week.

On the pitch, Man City comfortably won 3-0, just as Chelsea would ease to their 4-0 victory. But to many, the scenes before each game made far from comfortable viewing.

Featured image credit: BT Sport

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Topics: Black Lives Matter, Football News, Chelsea, Football, blm, Champions League, Black Lives Matter, Football News, Chelsea, Football, blm, Champions League

Alex Reid is a writer at SPORTbible who’s previously strung words together for FourFourTwo, Boxing News, The Guardian and, yes, Cruise International (it’s about big ships, not Tom). Interests range from football and boxing to real sports like WWE and darts. He is not a cage fighter.

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@otheralexreid