The retired German international star, Mesut Ozil, expressed his happiness at being in Qatar and attending the 2022 World Cup, praising Qatar's hospitality and distinguished hosting of the tournament. This came a few days after he raised his picture in the stands during the Germany-Spain match.
Ozil shared, on his personal page on the Instagram website - today, Thursday - a picture of him from one of the World Cup stadiums, commenting on it, "It is great to be in Qatar for the World Cup. Thank you for the hospitality and perfect organization, and I am happy to be here always, and all the best for Qatar in what remainder of the tournament.
The photo received wide interaction and was liked by more than 300,000 followers, less than an hour after it was published.
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A post shared by Mesut Ă–zil (@m10_official)
And a number of Arab fans raised a picture of Ozil in the stands of Al-Bayt Stadium, with their hand on the mouth before the start of the Spain-Germany match - last Sunday - in response to the German national team, whose players put their hands on their mouths in the group photo, before their first match in the 2022 World Cup. In Qatar, as a form of protest against what they described as "gagging mouths" from the International Football Association (FIFA).
Racism means Ozil too 📧
A message from the stands to the gagged mouths team 🫢# World Cup_Qatar_2022 pic.twitter.com/GG0GpyjsWz
– Al Jazeera Sports (@AJASports) November 27, 2022
The German star - of Turkish origin - had announced his retirement from international football with the "Manshafts";
Because he was subjected to "insult, racism and disrespect," according to what he posted on his Twitter account, after a photo he took with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in addition to his well-known humanitarian stances towards Uighur Muslims.