Ukraine international Rakitsky may have played his last Zenit game, says manager

Ukrainian defender Yaroslav Rakitsky may not play for Zenit St Petersburg again, with manager Sergei Semak admitting he does not know whether his time at the club is effectively at an end.

32-year-old Rakitsky, who has 54 caps for his country, has been at Zenit since making a controversial move from Shakhtar Donetsk in January 2019, a switch which was unpopular in Ukraine.

He is into the final few months of his contract, which expires in June and Mail Online report that he has already been dropped to the substitutes’ bench for speaking out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Rakitsky posted a picture of a Ukraine flag on Instagram with the caption ‘I’m Ukrainian!’ which was reportedly behind him being dropped for the Europa League clash with Real Betis last week.

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Now Semak says he is not sure whether the defender will play for the club again and that will be, at least partly, down to Rakitsky himself.

‘The atmosphere not only inside the club, but in the country is such that any person is worried and takes what is happening to heart,’ said Semak after Zenit beat Rubin Kazan on Monday.

‘Yaroslav asked for a couple of days off to resolve his personal issues. Tomorrow he should be in training.

‘It’s hard for me to say whether he will play Rakitsky for Zenit. His contract is valid for three months.

‘Each person makes his own decisions. He asked for the weekend, what will happen next? I don’t know.’

Legend of Ukrainian football Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, who has 144 caps for the country, is a coach at Zenit and was absent from the win on Monday, but Semak insisted it was just down to illness.

‘Tolya [Tymoshchuk] drove to the base during the