All Golovin: Russian tries to help Monaco in the fight for gold

The match scheduled for December 18 in the 16th round of the French soccer championship Monaco - Paris Saint-Germain will be one of the key matches in the European season for Russian legionnaires - Alexander Golovin and Matvey Safonov. The former, along with Monaco, will try to claw their way closer to Ligue 1 leaders PSG, who, if they avoid defeat in the upcoming encounter, will significantly increase Safonov's chances of becoming French champion in his first season abroad.

Meanwhile, Daler Kuzyaev's Le Havre are heading for relegation from the French top flight, Fedor Chalov has started scoring regularly for Greek PAOK, Daniil Khudyakov is establishing himself at the heart of Austrian Sturm, and Vasily Berezutsky has started his coaching career with victories at Azerbaijan's Sabah.

Golovin

The 28-year-old Russian midfielder, as in previous seasons, remains one of Monaco's leaders. It is no coincidence that he was recently recognized as the best footballer in Russia in 2024 by Sport-Express. Even the injury, due to which Golovin missed part of the pre-season, did not prevent him from quickly getting in shape. The Monegasques started the championship well and even by mid-October were in the lead, tied on points with PSG.

But then several offensive misfires distanced them from the richest club in France, which won the last three championships. At the end of the first round, Monaco are seven points behind the Parisians and share second to third place with Marseille. To keep their championship chances alive, Golovin's team must beat PSG at home.

- Golovin has been the best player in Russia for years," Alexander Mostovoi, a former midfielder for the Russian national team and French sides Strasbourg and Caen, shared his opinion with Izvestia. - He is a head above those guys who play in the RPL, because he plays in the championship with different speeds and a different level of performers. It is especially striking when Alexander comes to the national team - he is 10 times faster in making decisions on the field than his teammates. This is logical considering the daily practice in a very strong and difficult championship, where he is one of the leaders of not the last club, which with the right circumstances can compete for gold.

Safonov

Few believed that the Russian goalkeeper would play a lot in PSG in the presence of Gianluigi Donnarumma - one of the world's strongest goalkeepers, who became the main creator of the victory of the Italian national team at the European Championship in 2021.

However, the first six months in France were not so bad for Safonov in terms of playing time. Several times, Parisians head coach Luis Enrique rotated the goalkeepers, giving Matvey four full matches in the national championship. The Russian played two of them without conceding a goal, bringing home wins over Lance (1-0) and Toulouse (3-0). Earlier there was an away draw with Reims (1:1) and a home win over Rennes (3:1).

The 25-year-old goalkeeper was in the starting lineup and in the Champions League. First, in September's first round, he played for zero and brought a minimal home victory over Spanish "Girona". And in late November, he was entrusted to play in an away top match against Bayern Munich (0:1). There was a minimal defeat due to a goal conceded by the Parisians partly due to the erroneous actions of Safonov. At the same time, he made several saves and generally received good reviews from the local media and experts.

However, since then, Matvey has sat in the reserves and only Donnarumma has played, who is likely to be on the pitch in the match against Monaco. Nevertheless, if PSG win the French championship once again, this title will not be a mere formality in the list of Matvey's achievements, as he has already played a quarter of the matches.

- Safonov has already adapted to the new team," said Vitaly Kafanov, the Russian national team goalkeepers coach, in a conversation with Izvestia. - His skill level is growing, but there is always room for improvement. During his September visit to the national team it was noticeable how Matvey is progressing in France. In PSG, professionalism, self-training and discipline are at a different level. It is clear that there is a different environment, a different language, team, class of players. Therefore, Safonov still has a lot of work to do to get a foothold in the French championship leader. But with the appropriate desire he can do it.

Kuzyaev

A year and a half ago, when the 31-year-old left Zenit for a provincial French club, it was clear that he was likely to struggle for survival. Last season, Kuzyaev was one of Le Havre's leaders and played a significant role in keeping their place in Ligue 1. In the current league, he has often started to lose his place at the heart of the team.

And his club is rushing towards the lower division. Although the start of the championship did not foreshadow big problems. Yes, in the first round there was a home defeat at the hands of PSG (1:4), but given the class of the opponent, it did not cause panic. Then there were two consecutive wins - away over St. Etienne (2:0) and at home over Auxerre (3:1). It seemed that "Le Havre" is able to consolidate in the middle of the table without much trouble.

But in the next 12 rounds, Kuzyaev's team lost 10 matches and won only twice. And now "Le Havre" is in the penultimate, 17th place. The gap from the saving 15th line is only one point, but so far the trend is that the club is sinking deeper and deeper. Kuzyaev spent the last two matches on the bench, and his team lost.

In total, Daler played 11 matches in the current championship, five of them in the starting lineup, and only in three he played from start to finish. Moreover, the last victory - away against survival rival Nantes (2-0) at the end of November - was won by Le Havre, when Kuzyaev played the entire match.

- "Going to Le Havre was initially a gamble - a small club, a small town," former Spartak owner Andrei Chervichenko told Izvestia. - But our guys have some pathological desire to go to Europe at any cost. Unfortunately, Kuzyaev's generation was brought up in this way through the media and the example of their older comrades, who left in a completely different time and under different economic conditions. Daler decided to try himself after living in St. Petersburg and fighting for titles with Zenit. He did. In the first season it worked well, but now it's a failure. And not Kuzyaev himself, but the club, which also does not let Daler play. I wouldn't rule out that in winter or summer he will return to Russia.

Chalov

After the summer transfer, the adaptation of the Russian striker took a long time. The first goal in the Greek championship for PAOK Chalov scored back in September, when a beautiful heel strike hit the gate "Volos" (4:1). But until the end of November, this goal remained the only one for him in the new team.

However, in the last three weeks Fedor had a breakthrough - two goal passes in the championship and two goals in the Europa League. On November 24, he gave a goal in an away match of the Greek championship against Asteras (2:1). Four days later, he scored an away goal against Latvian RFH in the Europa League (2-0). On December 8, he took part in the away defeat of Panserraikos in the national championship with his pass. And on December 12, with a goal he helped to defeat Hungarian Ferencvaros at home (5:0).

PAOK has a good chance to reach the Europa League playoff round. Final places there will be distributed on the results of the last two rounds of the general stage, which will be held at the end of January. In the Greek championship, together with Magomed Ozdoyev, Chalov helps his team to go in the group of leaders. The club from Thessaloniki is now third, but is only one point behind Olympiacos, who are first. In total, 15 rounds of 26 rounds have been played in the championship, after which the top six teams will play for medals in a two-round final round of 10 rounds.

- Hopefully, his performance in recent games will help Fedor gain confidence and score and give assists more consistently in Greece," former CSKA player Dmitry Khomukha told Izvestia. - He's been performing well lately, but he needs stability. If Chalov shows it, he will become one of the club's leaders.

Khudyakov

The 20-year-old goalkeeper only recently made his debut for Sturm. In the Austrian championship, he played two away matches in full - a draw with Altach (1:1) and a win over Swarovski Tyrol (3:0). Khudyakov also played twice in the Champions League, scoring zero at home against Girona (1:0) and losing away to French Lille (2:3).

Thus, Daniel took good advantage of the fact that the main goalkeeper of the Dutchman Kjell Scheerpen had a knee surgery, because of which he is out until the end of the year. In the Austrian championship, the club from Graz is leading after 16 rounds with a three-point gap from the nearest pursuer in the face of the Viennese "Austria". In total, the teams have six matches to play until March, after which the champion will be determined in the spring by the results of the tournament with the participation of the top six clubs. For now, the national championship has gone on a two-month break and will resume in February.

- We can't say that Danya has fully adapted and looks confident," former Lokomotiv academy director Vladimir Kuzmichev told Izvestia. - It can be felt that he is still worried, but in general we can positively assess his performance. Although in the match against Lille he did not help out somewhere. But I am cautiously optimistic about his prospects in Austria. He doesn't regret moving there, especially when he was looking for game practice, which he didn't have at Lokomotiv last year. It's important that Khudyakov understands that everything depends on him. Yes, it won't be easy to compete with a more experienced colleague after the break, but I hope that Danya will take advantage of the situation and will be able to start the second part of the season as a mainstay.

Berezutsky

Vasily Berezutsky had never worked as a head coach until November. After finishing his career as a footballer in 2018, he assisted Leonid Slutsky with his brother at Dutch side Wittes. Then he worked in the staff of Viktor Goncharenko in CSKA and Krasnodar, returned to CSKA to help his brother Alexei. And this year again spent in Slutsky's assistants in Chinese "Shanghai Shenhua".

On November 25, the 42-year-old began his independent career, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract with Azerbaijan's Sabah. In his first three matches, he scored two wins and one draw in the national championship. His team is in fifth place.

And in Switzerland, Sion midfielder Anton Miranchuk is recovering from injury. He was out in mid-November and should return to action by the end of December.