Legion of Honor: what are the chances of Russian players to qualify for the 1/8th European Cups

This week, the playoff rounds in the three club tournaments: Champions League, Europa League and Conference League will be completed. Russian soccer fans will pay special attention to PSG, Monaco and other teams that feature our players. Read more about what are the chances of Russians to continue the tournament struggle in their teams - in the material of "Izvestia".

Matvey Safonov (PSG, France).

So far, our goalkeeper in France plays according to the principle of "rarely but aptly". In most of his matches Matvey shows a confident game, helping Parisians to score points, including keeping their gates "dry", which is important for a goalkeeper.

Last weekend, Safonov made not only Russian, but also French media buzz thanks to his linguistic performance after the match of the 22nd round of the French championship, in which Matvey again did not allow Toulouse to hit his goal (1:0). In the mix zone Safonov talked to journalists for several minutes in pure French. And quite confidently, which did not go unnoticed by the local press.

In particular, L'Equipe journalist Jose Barroso called Safonov's command of French a "big surprise", since Matvey has only been with the team for six months, and noted that even the big stars "who have played for years in Paris have not said a single word in French". By "big stars," Barroso was probably referring to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Angel Di Maria and Neymar.

Who knows, perhaps on this positive wave, the coaching staff, led by Spaniard Luis Enrique, will give Safonov a chance to prove himself in the return leg of the Champions League playoffs against Brest, familiar from the local championship. Especially since the first match between these teams ended in a big win for the Parisians (3-0), which means that PSG are unlikely to miss out. You can painlessly rotate the squad. In addition, the last match in the league showed that there is no doubting Safonov's readiness for the European Cup. And one more potential interview with Matvey in French after the passage to the 1/8 finals will obviously be pleased with absolutely everyone - both in France and in Russia.

The match between PSG and Brest will be held on February 19.

Aleksandr Golovin (Monaco, France)

Golovin's team is not doing well before the return match with Benfica. Firstly, Monaco need to win back the one goal difference they conceded in the first meeting. Secondly, and on the visitors' pitch. And thirdly, unfortunately, without the Russian. On February 14, Monaco head coach Adi Hütter said that Golovin will not play in the next matches due to an injury to the adductor muscle. Including with Benfica.

In general, both teams are approaching the "return" with decent losses. At the time of writing it was known about 14 players (seven from each team), who for various reasons will miss or risk missing the next match. In particular, Di Maria and Renato Sanches for Benfica, who, like Golovin and Folarin Balogun of Monaco, have health problems. And someone else has also had too many unnecessary cards. So it is difficult to decide on the winner of the confrontation at the moment. Only one thing is clear: Benfica has a starting advantage of one goal. But will it hold? The big question.

The match between Benfica and Monaco will be held on February 18.

Arsen Zakharyan ("Real Sociedad", Spain).

Spanish "Real Sociedad" is approaching the return match against Danish "Middtjylland" with a minimal advantage of one goal. So it's too early to relax.

As for the Russian midfielder of Sociedad Arsen Zakharyan, his chances to take the field in the next meeting can hardly be assessed as high. Unfortunately. Despite the fact that Real Sociedad press officer Jon Ander Munduate recently stated that Arsen is ready to "play at any level" and that he doesn't have any health problems at the moment, it's hard to say that Zakharyan will get more playing time than he is getting now.

After recovering from a tendon injury by the start of 2025, Arsen played in only two of 12 matches in all tournaments: 12 minutes against Osasuna and 14 minutes against Betis, coming off the bench in a 3-0 loss to the opposition and two penalties for his team. And in the first match of the Europa League playoffs Zaha, of course, did not play.

It will be good if Zakharyan comes out against Middtjylland at least in the course of the second half. But with a "slippery" score, Spanish coach Imanol Alguacil is unlikely to throw a young Russian without much game practice this season into the fray from the first minute. And such matches are not for experimenting with risks.

The match between Real Sociedad and Middtjylland will be held on February 20.

Magomed Ozdoyev and Fedor Chalov (PAOK, Greece)

Immediately two Russian players will fight for access to the 1/8 finals of the Europa League against Romanian FCSB. In the first match the team of Ozdoyev and Chalov lost on their field with the score 1:2, leading 1:0 until the 50th minute. As for the performance of the Russians, Ozdoyev came on the pitch in the 69th minute, while Chalov sat out the entire game in the reserves. Perhaps it is due to the lack of game readiness after a muscle contusion, because of which Fedor missed the last two matches in the championship (against AEK and OFI). However, the positive dynamics is present: on February 16 in the match of the 23rd round of the Greek Super League against Lamia, Chalov not only came on for 20 minutes in the end, but also became the author of one of the seven PAOK goals (Ozdoyev in that match came into the starting lineup and was replaced on 63 minutes).

The Greeks have nothing to lose in the Europa League - they need to do everything they can to win by two goals. This may require the help of Ozdoyev and Chalov, whom we will probably see for at least 10-20 minutes. Or even more.

The match between FCCB and PAOK will take place on February 20.

Yuri Lodygin (Panathinaikos, Greece)

The 34-year-old former Zenit goalkeeper Lodygin is far from Panathinaikos' number one, despite the number on his shirt. The two-time Russian champion doesn't get his chances very often, and he manages to take advantage of them only partially.

For example, Lodygin was on the pitch in the Greek Superleague 22nd round match against Aris on February 9 and conceded two goals, which allowed the opponent to win. However, due to the injury of the main goalkeeper, Bartlomiej Drongowski from Poland, Yuri was again entrusted with a place in the goal in the next match, but in the Conference League - against Icelandic Vikingur. But even there unsuccessfully - defeat 1:2. After that Lodygin was left in reserve for the championship match against Volos, in which Drongovsky played, and Panathinaikos won 2:1. The Pole is likely to play in the return leg of the Conference League playoffs, where it is crucial not to concede more. More precisely, to score two goals more than the opponent.

The match between Panathinaikos and Vikingur will take place on February 20.