Mesut Ozil has thanked Arsenal fans for showing “love” at a pre-season friendly, after what was a tough week for the German midfielder following his racism allegations against the nation’s footballing body.

While the Gunners lost on penalties in their fixture against Atletico Madrid on Thursday, and Ozil sat on the bench to watch the proceedings, the 29-year-old received one of the biggest cheers of the night when his image was shown on the big screen.

Ozil, who has recently linked-up with his club team-mates following the World Cup in Russia, announced his retirement from international football citing “racism and disrespect” as reasons.

Reinhard Grindel, the German football chief, denied racism charges but did accept that he should have stepped in to help Ozil after the playmaker was criticised for posing for a picture with Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Ozil, who is a World Cup winner, was born in Germany to Turkish-origin parents, and also said in his statement that he felt he was made the scapegoat for Germany’s early exit at the 2018 World Cup.

Meanwhile, the playmaker has found plenty of support from his club team-mates and manager Unai Emery since his decision to speak out.

“Of course everybody supports Mesut. We’re with him, we’re trying to help him,” Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan told AFP this week.

“Everyone knows that Arsenal is a team with a lot of foreign players and foreign employees. It doesn’t matter which country you represent, it’s like family and we support each other.”