Autumn Marathon: how Russian legionnaires start the Champions League season

The main stage of the Champions League starts this week. Our players, those who play outside of Russia, are returning with him. About who the Russian football players will play against and what their chances of success in the opening matches of the European Cup autumn are in the Izvestia article.

Matvey Safonov (PSG)

After the best season in the club's history, the Parisians are starting a new campaign for the second Champions League Cup in a row. Matvey played only two games in the last Champions League, but there are good parallels — he made his debut in the first round.

The defending champion starts the match with Atalanta. The Italians are drained of blood after the loss of Gianpiero Gasperini, the main creator of the project, and Mateo Retega, the top scorer of the 2024/25 Serie A, and the replacements in the person of Nikola Krstovich from Lecce and coach Ivan Yurich do not seem equivalent. Add to this the problems with Ademola Lukman (he refused to come to the training camp) and the poor start in the championship (1-1 with Pisa and Parma), and it seems that the Bergamasques have no chance at all.

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PSG were overtaken by a series of injuries — as many as six players immediately dropped out, including the most important Dembele, Douai and Kvaratskhelia. Luis Enrique (by the way, he's also not in the best shape after a broken collarbone) probably won't risk another key position on the field, so he'd rather see Luca Chevalier, the 40-millionth rookie, in goal. In any case, there is hope that Safonov will appear on the field from the very first minutes.

Alexander Golovin (Monaco)

The CSKA graduate has been playing for the eighth season in the camp of the Monegasques, but in the Champions League this is only the second joint visit of the French club and the Russian midfielder. We were eliminated twice more in qualifying, and in the rest of the years we didn't get into the tournament at all.

In the first round, Monaco will travel to Bruges. The Belgians made a good noise in the Champions League last spring, when they beat the strong Atalanta in the play—off matches - 5:2 in the sum of two matches. But in the summer we lost several important players — Shemsdin Talbi, Ardon Yashari and Maxime De Kuyper. The danger of a stumble for Golovin's team is minimal.

Alexander himself is still the leader of Monaco, even though the previous season was the worst goal +pass in his European career. There is a risk that our legionnaire will not take part in the match or at least will not be in the starting line-up. Golovin missed the match of the last round with Auxerre due to muscle discomfort. Head coach Adi Hutter called it a precautionary measure, so we are waiting for the midfielder on the Jan Breidel field on Thursday evening.

Nikita Khaykin ("Buda-Glimt")

In April, Nikita greatly helped Buda to pass Lazio in the quarterfinals of the Europa League and for the first time be in 1/2 of the European Cup. On Wednesday, Khaykin will listen to the Champions League anthem for the first time, of course. Just like the whole Norwegian club.

Slavia Prague is a very pleasant opponent for the opening game. However, you still need to beware of the Czechs, they have not lost this season so far (6 wins, 2 draws). It will be a little more difficult for Buda-Glimt, but they have already gained some experience in the Champions League: they defeated the Austrian Sturm in qualifying. They defeated 5-0 at home, but in Graz they already lost with a minimum score (1:2).

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Haikin is one hundred percent the number one of Norwegians. Our keeper does not expect any competitors in terms of position. So we will be watching Nikita's game for at least eight games. After Slavia, the opponents will be more serious — for example, the winner will be Tottenham, Juventus or Borussia Dortmund.

Egor Sorokin ("Kairat")

Surprisingly, for Sorokin, the current Champions League will not be the first in his football career. In the 2021/22 season, Egor made his debut in the main European club tournament for Krasnodar. I got 151 minutes in total: the whole match with Rennes, half-time with Sevilla and 16 minutes with Chelsea. He is probably the most experienced European Cup fighter of the Kazakh team.

On September 18, Sorokin will join Kairat on the Jose Alvalade field to play against Sporting. The Lisbonians are periodically stalling after the departure of Ruben Amorim, and in the summer they lost their main attacking force, Victor Diekeres. This season, the Lions are still second only to strong opponents.: 0:1 Benfica in the Super Cup and 1:2 Porto in the championship.

Egor has to play all the matches in this Champions League — he is the main central defender of the team. Real Madrid is coming to Kazakhstan in two weeks. Will Sorokin and company be able to contain Mbappe and Vinicius?