Zenit St Petersburg owner Valery Golubev has launched a scathing attack on Andrei Arshavin over comments the Russia captain made following his country's Euro 2012 exit.
The Arsenal man attempted to downplay his team's failure to progress from the group stage in the wake of their 1-0 defeat to Greece.
"If you have had high expectations for our team here, then it's your problem, not ours," he said after fan expressed uproar over the performance.
Golubev slammed Arshavin over the remarks, claiming that he should be "deported" from Russia.
"How can a citizen of Russia treat the honour of his country like that? He should be deported," the Zenit owner told reporters.
Arshavin has since apologise for his comments, and expressed disappointment over his team's plight.
"The result has disappointed us and, of course, all our fans. We understand that.
"As team captain, on behalf of our players and myself personally, I would like to apologise for our performance and the result that we had.
"It's not right to shy away [from criticism]. That's why I took this moment to say something on this subject. I will do it only once and will not talk about this any further."
Greece qualified from Group A at Russia's expense and will now take on Germany in the quarter-finals.
Mark Langshaw
