Reaction Of Rio Ferdinand On Mesut Ozil’s Shock Retirement From International Football

Social media has blown up since Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil controversially decided to hang up his International boots and bring an end to a glittering career with Germany.

The circumstances surrounding the retirement are bizarre to say the very least, and have hit home the narrative that politics and football are a horrible combination.

Ozil’s controversial photograph with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made such bad press that the German was even left out of one of the team’s matches in the World Cup, even though he claims he had the support of his manager Joachim Low.

But things have gone from bad to worse since then, with hate messages and death threats to Ozil and his family, leading to an outburst yesterday that will be infamously remembered for years to come.

Citing a racist and belittling attitude of the German Football Federation, Ozil ended his International career with Die Mannschaft, but has since come under fire from officials in Germany, not least Bayern Munich President Uli Hoeness, who clearly has no sympathy for the 29-year-old, Metro UK are reporting.

“Ozil has been playing s*** for years”, he said, blaming the player for using the political row to hide his poor performances in a German shirt. He further cited that his team played over him every time they took on Arsenal, as they knew he was weak.

It seems rather ironic though that when Ozil was busy lifting the World Cup in 2014, Hoeness was actually starting a three-and-a-half year jail sentence for tax evasion.

Nonetheless, Ozil has also received waves of support from both fans and fellow players, with former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand chiming in on Twitter and upholding the German’s move with “massive respect” for his once rival on the football pitch.

https://twitter.com/rioferdy5/status/1021317751376408576