Former Everton midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov has insisted that English referees have been biased towards Russian players since England lost out to Russia in the bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

The 27-year-old also claimed that such discrimination was one of the reasons that he departed England for Spartak Moscow.

"I can say with total certainty that the atmosphere took a turn for the worse after we beat them to the rights to host the World Cup," he told Rossiya-2.

"The referees didn't have much sympathy for us. All other things being equal, you'd lose out. I left maybe not just for this reason, but what happened, happened."

Bilyaletdinov has 46 Russian caps to his name.