Zenit St. Petersburg captain Artyom Dzyuba donned a Deadpool costume as he claimed a third successive Russian Premier League title Sunday after a 6-1 rout of Lokomotiv Moscow.
“[Deadpool] can do everything, the best thing about him is regeneration so that’s me,” Dzyuba, who was pulled from Russia’s international fixtures late last year over a masturbation video scandal, told the Match TV broadcaster of his choice to dress as the foul-mouthed superhero.
Zenit have now won the Russian Premier League title seven times, three fewer than the record of 10 held by Spartak Moscow since the post-Soviet championship started in 1992. With two games left to play, the club backed by the deep pockets of Gazprom have a nine-point lead over Lokomotiv.
“I’ve had this costume for a while and wanted to indulge myself. I can allow myself to [with] the third championship,” said Dzyuba, 32, who collected his Russian Premier League medal with his young son.
“I’ll take it off as soon as I get to the locker room. It’s hot, I almost suffocated in it.”
Zenit’s Twitter account posted an update early Monday that Ryan Reynolds, the star of the Marvel film franchise, had liked its photo of Dzyuba accepting his RPL medal in the Deadpool costume.
“Double victory for us today, Ryan Reynolds liked our tweet!”
AFP contributed reporting.
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