Arsenal defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos insists Mesut Ozil remains popular amongst the players.
The 30-year-old made only his second start since Boxing Day in last night's 3-0 win over BATE Borisov, which secured the Gunners safe passage into the Europa League last 16 with a 3-1 aggregate victory.
Ozil told the London Evening Standard: “He played very good. Mesut is a fantastic player and when he is fit he is one of the most important players of the team.
“Of course, when something is not going good, everybody is there to criticise but we have to see also what Mesut did in the last years for this team.
“All the team, all the players are behind him and we need a good Mesut to go [forward] because we know that he is very important for us.
“He was sick, he had some problems, but after he came back for training, it was the same situation as me: when I was injured and I came back, it is not that I have to play from the first game in the first eleven.
“Now he is good. He did well yesterday and I hope in the next games he will go [forward] like this.
“He enjoys [himself] and we enjoy that he is with us. But when you are injured, it is difficult. Also, I feel in the first 10 minutes, I feel like a fish out of water yesterday as I was out for one month. Mesut is very important, he is a very good guy and we need him."
