While football superstars Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) accepted substantial salary cuts after agreements with their clubs, in Russia, Peruvian international Jefferson Farfán reacted with controversial statements on Instagram after his salary was reduced by 40% at Lokomotiv Moscow.
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In response to this news, the Peruvian expressed himself in an Instagram Live chat with his former teammate Roberto Guizasola. La Foquita reacted using strong words after learning that he will lose almost half of his salary due to the global coronavirus crisis.
"They made a discount on me. They sent me a paper in Russian, I didn't understand anything... I ripped it. They wanted to screw me over, to discount me 40% (...) Play with everything else, but not with my 'candela' (money)," said the 35-year-old Lima-born striker.
Lokomotiv has joined other major clubs in the Russian Premier League such as Zenit in the initiative to reduce the salaries of their players to try to alleviate the COVID-19 crisis. However, their South American forward has responded in a negative way.
The Moscow-based club issued a statement indicating that: "Lokomotiv players have agreed to a 40% salary reduction while the Russian Premier League is suspended."
In addition, captain Vedran Ćorluka also referred to the situation that football is going through in general due to the virus outbreak.
"Football, like the rest of sports, has stopped, so players around the world will be reducing their salaries during a break in the championships. Our team also considers this step necessary, so the guys and I have decided to give up 40% of our salary until the end of the pandemic and the resumption of the season," announced the 34-year-old Croatian who wears the captain's armband in the capital's team.
Hours later, Farfán went to the same social media platform to explain that his comment on the live stream had been "misinterpreted," that what he said was "in jest," in conversation with his teammate Guizasola. He also stated that the salary reduction decided by his club "had already been agreed several days before my live chat." (D)