The Russian president couldn’t help but point out the irony of FC Zenit’s president claiming to ‘Russianize’ soccer, given his side recently fielded a team with only three Russian players.

Sergey Fursenko fell victim to his lofty rhetoric at a meeting of the sport's officials in Kremlin on Tuesday.

Describing growing interest in the game in Russia as “a football revolution,” the St. Petersburg club’s boss praised his team’s contribution in luring spectators to stadiums.

“The beauty of football is more important than the result. By playing spectacular football, Zenit has drawn in a huge amount of fans to the stadiums – up to 50,000,” he said. "Notably, new types of people now go to stadiums – families with children."

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Fursenko went on to paint a picture of the bright future of Russian football, noting the potential for advertisers to start pouring in money into local teams and make them worthy of their foreign rivals.

“Moreover, football will become a truly Russian game,” Fursenko said, as he concluded his emotional speech.

Putin swiftly quipped: “You’ve got eight foreigners running across the pitch, playing for Zenit in the Europa League, well done.”

The Russian leader was referring to a September 28 group stage meet-up between Zenit and Real Sociedad, which the St. Petersburg side won 3-1.

Only three players in the line-up – goalkeeper Andrey Lunev, Alexander Kokorin and Daler Kuzyaev – were Russian citizens.

Of the remaining eight, five were Argentines, one Slovenian, one Serbian and one Italian.

It’s worth noting, however, that three other Russians – Dmitry Poloz, Artyom Dzyuba and Aleksandr Erokhin – came on as subs during the match.

A maximum of six non-Russian players per team can be on the pitch at any time, according to a limit on foreign players in the Russian Premier League.

Last week, Vice-President of Russian Football Union Sergey Anokhin said that the authorities will scrap the limit only if all government funding to the clubs is cut. Otherwise, the money invested in the Russian football will be wasted on foreigners instead of developing football infrastructure in Russian regions, he argued.

“Foreign players took that money home. No new football arenas or centers as a quarter of century ago… We should understand that it is too much of a cost for two wins in UEFA Europa League.”