“It was difficult to foresee such a situation.” The Estonian national team coach said he was unaware of Karpin’s invitation to have dinner with the players

Assistant coach of the Estonian national football team Anders Opera said that, going to a joint dinner with the players of the team, he did not know that the head coach of the Russian national team would be there Valery Karpin .

According to Portimees, quoting the Opera, the specialist “understands the outrage that the photo posted on social networks caused”, but “he was not aware of Karpin’s upcoming presence at the dinner, so it was difficult to foresee such a situation”. ”

Before the new year, one of the former players of the Estonian national team, Andrey Stepanov, posted a joint photo with Karpin on social networks. The former Estonian national team players and the Russian coach had dinner together. A group of Estonian national team fans were outraged by this post. Current Estonian national team captain Konstantin Vasilyev has been offered to be stripped of the captain’s armband.

— I am a patriot of independent Estonia and I remember the days of the USSR. Of course, Karpin, who grew up in Narva, may have a different attitude towards the past, I don’t know his point of view. But I am a person with a stable position and attending the dinner did not affect my attitude towards the past or my position in the present.

I am sure that all former and current national team players who were present at the dinner are dedicated to Estonia in every sense of the word. I hope this issue will not cause a split among people who are in fact unanimously opposed (to the conflict in Ukraine), and now we can put an end to the accusations,” Opera quotes the Estonian edition of Postimees.

Earlier, Oper and national team players Konstantin Vasiliev and Sergei Zenev apologized for posting a joint photo with Karpin.

Karpin hails from Estonia’s Narva and has led the Russian national team since the summer of 2021.