Arsenal defender Oleksandr Zinchenko refused to celebrate after he opened the scoring for Mikel Arteta’s side in their Champions last-16 second-leg against PSV – and it’s got people talking.
Arteta made seven changes to his side for their clash against PSV, with Ben White, Jorginho, Raheem Sterling, Kieran Tierney, Jakub Kiwior and Myles Lewis-Skelly being drafted in alongside Zinchenko.
And with just six minutes played in North London, the Ukraine international made it 8-1 on aggregate after smashing the ball past goalkeeper Walter Benitez with a powerful strike from just outside the box.
Moments later, Zinchenko turned his back on the goal before holding his hands up.
It appears the 28-year-old defender refused to celebrate the goal as he played 12 times for the Eredivisie side during a loan spell in 2016/17, when he was still contracted to Manchester City.
Image credit: Getty
Here’s how fans on social media reacted to the incident.
One fan wrote: “Zinchenko refusing to celebrate against a club he played 12 league games for aged 19. Game’s gone,” and a second said: “Zinchenko not celebrating is one thing but apologising to away fans wtf. Where’s my game gone?”
A third commented: “Because of one 12 appearance loan from City to PSV in 2016, Zinchenko cannot celebrate such a fine goal against them? Games gone tbh.”
A fourth said: “Zinchenko was on loan at PSV 8 years ago so didn’t celebrate his first ever Champions League goal. Utter woke nonsense,” and a fifth added: “Class act.”
After helping PSV to a third-place finish in the Eredivisie, an emotional Zinchenko opened up about his short, but important spell in Eindhoven.
“Well, first of all, that was amazing experience for me,” he said in 2023. “A very important year in terms of my career.
“Even if you look at it on paper, I didn’t play much or I didn’t get what I really wanted before I joined PSV but honestly, I wouldn’t have traded this experience for anything else because whenever people asked me about PSV, I always used to say good words because the place here is absolutely fantastic in terms of everything.”
He added: “Football wise and living life because even since I left PSV, I used to come here a couple of times for holidays, because I have a few friends here as well.
“And for such a young player, like I was at that time, it’s an amazing place. Always a full stadium, the fans, they always love football. Whenever they meet you, they are always happy to see you. I think this is the most important thing for every football player.”
Thoughts on the moment in North London? Let us know in the comments.
