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Football London
Football London
Sport
Danyal Khan

What Arsenal did for Ukraine's Oleg Luzhny ahead of crucial Leicester Premier League fixture

Arsenal have included former player Oleg Luzhny on the back of the official programme ahead of the Gunners' pivotal home fixture in the Premier League against Leicester City.

Luzhny famously won the double with Arsenal in 2002 and his last game for the club was in the 2003 FA Cup Final.

After retiring as a footballer, Luzhny went on to earn his coaching badges and managed Dynamo Kyiv and most recently Karpaty with an eventual spell in England in the thoughts of the Ukrainian.

However, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has changed all of that and as a result, just like the Klitschko brothers have, the former player has gone back to his home nation to help in the fight for his country.

"The situation is horrific," Luzhny told Sky Sports. "I want to come to coach in the UK but before anything I will stand firmly and fight for my people, for my country and for democracy.

"‘We all hope this will be over soon as innocent lives are being lost and families are being torn apart. A country being invaded and destroyed is all for what?

"We need to stand together as one and bring to an end this criminal warfare.

His bravery now has been recognised by the north Londoners who made a touching gesture to their former player in the build-up to kick off at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, March 14.

Many journalists and fans alike noted that when they were given their official programmes by the club upon arrival, Luzhny had been designated his famous number 22 for his bravery in stepping up in the battle that's commencing in Eastern Europe.

@AFCMet was the first to recognise this with his tweet: 'Classy from Arsenal to give the number 22 shirt to Oleg Luzhny in the programme today.'

You can follow Arsenal vs Leicester coverage on football.london's live blog from proceedings here.

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