CSKA Moscow officials have accused Manchester airport immigration officials of deliberately refusing their star player Zoran Tosic the right to play in the Champions League match at the Etihad Stadium.
Former Manchester United winger Tosic is not in the team to face City after allegedly arriving at the airport on Tuesday with the wrong visa. The Serb was allowed in the country but not allowed to play in or even attend the match.
Now directors of the Russian club have claimed the decision was a deliberate act aimed at sabotaging CSKA’s plans for tonight’s game in Group E.
According to sources in Russia, the former Manchester United player was only in possession of a ‘transit visa’ rather than the necessary work visa.
As such he was allowed in to the country but told he could not play in the game or even travel to the stadium for the game.
It is understood that Tosic is currently at the CSKA team hotel in Manchester City centre. CSKA, meanwhile, are considering an official complaint, feeling that their player has been deliberately targeted because of the threat he carries on the field.
City need to win after taking only two points from their first three matches.
CSKA general director Roman Babayev said: ‘Initially there was a discrepancy and he was issued not a tourist visa, but a transit visa.
‘The English consulate advised that Serbs do not really need a tourist visa, they may arrive as transit passengers without a visa and it is issued on the spot.
‘Nevertheless, the transit visa was issued, so he had the right to stay in the UK for 48 hours, that is enough.
‘But the English border guards showed some over-adherence to the rules and found on the internet that he is a CSKA player, and felt that he had come to England to work.
‘They demanded a wok visa, which is impossible and unacceptable.
‘After a long time of wrangling, he was admitted to the country because they had no right not to (let him in), as he had a visa.
‘However, they seized his passport, which is also the first time in our experience that a passport of a citizen of another country has been confiscated.
‘The English migration service has received several requests from the Serbian consulate in England and the Russian embassy in England.
‘They considered the matter at length and in the end, not only did he not go to the match, he was even forbidden to be a spectator at the stadium and they demanded that he leave the territory of Manchester before the match.
‘Will we submit a protest? English people still can’t calm down, but, I think there is already no sense in it, because it already won’t affect the result, but it’s not very pleasant.
‘I am sure that this would not have happened in any other European country.’