The wall won't budge: Safonov's exploits in the Intercontinental Cup final have conquered the world

The Russian goalkeeper of the French PSG, Matvey Safonov, became the main character of the Intercontinental Cup final on December 17, in which his team snatched victory from the Brazilian Flamengo. The Russian's powerful saves in the penalty shootout caused a strong reaction and admiration from football fans around the world. Izvestia tells us what records Safonov has rewritten and what is being written about him in the foreign press today.

The record holder

In the Intercontinental Cup final, Matvey Safonov deflected four consecutive penalty shootouts by Flamengo players and became the first goalkeeper in history to deliver such a series at a tournament held under the auspices of FIFA. The uniqueness of the Russian goalkeeper's achievement lies precisely in the sequence of rescues. For example, at last year's African Cup of Nations, Ronan Williams from South Africa also managed four punches from Cape Verdean national team players, but Larouche Teixeira's attempt turned out to be effective, coming in fourth at the 11-meter mark.

It is noteworthy that before the penalty shootout, Safonov used a cheat sheet where his favorite performances of Flamengo players were recorded. After the match, Brazil's head coach Felipe Luis said he had a feeling Safonov was watching his team's pre-match training session.

There have also been cases of goalkeeper heroism in the finals of major club tournaments. Helmut Dukadam from Steaua in the Champions Cup and Rene Igita from Atletico Nacional in the Libertadores Cup had four 11-meter shots each in front of the Krasnodar graduate. And if the odious Colombian in 1989 allowed the rivals from the Paraguayan Olimpia to score four goals, then the Romanian in 1986 humiliated the Barcelona attack, coping with each of the shots. By the way, until December 17, 2025, the record for the Intercontinental Cup finals was the result of Uruguayan Jorge Sere, whose three saves brought the National victory over PSV in 1988.

If you observe Safonov's career, you can see a consistent movement towards the status of a master of penalty shootout. In the first two series, Matvey lost, missing all the shots of his rivals (by the way, Moha Ramos, a graduate of Real Madrid, who is now lost in the lower Spanish leagues, reflected all three shots of the young bulls — Ignatiev, Grigoryan and Suleymanov), then beat Rostov in the Cup thanks to a miss by Danila Prokhin, and then the decisive rescues began.. We had one save against Krylia Sovetov, two each against Akron and Lens, and an incredible four against Flamengo. It is almost impossible to improve this achievement, but to extend the series of post—match victories is quite feasible.

It is important to note that Safonov, who had not won a single trophy before moving to Paris, continued to replenish his collection of awards with PSG. On Wednesday, the Russian goalkeeper won his sixth title. Previously, he took the championship, Cup and Super Cup at the national level, and the Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup at the international level. The goalkeeper of the Russian national team came out on top in terms of the number of international club trophies won by foreign clubs, leaving Dmitry Alenichev and Denis Cheryshev behind.

Coach Semin called Safonov's game the result of a football player's hard work.

The Russians are taking it!

The incredible performance of the Russian goalkeeper was noted by foreign media from different countries. The French edition of L'Equipe reported that the Russian made history: four consecutive saves in penalty shootouts had not been recorded in FIFA club tournaments before.

"Little involved during the match and caught off guard by Jorginho's penalty, the Russian goalkeeper was excellent in a series of post-match penalty shots. After missing the first shot by Nicolas De La Cruz, he then made four saves in a row — he blocked attempts by Saul Niigues, Pedro, Leo Pereira and Leo Araujo. After the last rescue, which meant the end of the match, he was solemnly carried by his teammates. The Russian made history. Against the background of this feat, everything else no longer matters much," the publication says.

The German Bild devoted a separate article to the heroism of the goalkeeper.

"It's okay that a world—class footballer, Dembele, shot a penalty above the goal, and the talented Barkola also missed, because four penalties were reflected. Safonov secured another title for PSG. The goalkeeper became a hero by deflecting four shots," the newspaper writes.

The authors of the Goal portal believe that Matvey, with his saves, helped the Parisians avoid serious embarrassment.

"PSG reserve goalkeeper Matvey Safonov saved the Champions League winners from disgrace in the Intercontinental Cup match against Flamengo at the crucial moment. It's hard not to pay attention to Safonov, the hero of the penalty shootout. The Russian goalkeeper deflected four of the five shots, helped the team win the trophy, and also acted confidently in regular time, making several saves," Goal notes.

La Gazzetta dello Sport, which devoted one of its pages to the PSG—Flamengo match, titled the material as follows: "PSG" of world class. Safonov is the king." Under the title is a photo of one of the episodes in which our goalkeeper takes a penalty. The caption under the photo is eloquent — "phenomenon".

One of the subheadings of the match report is "Hero". The article itself says that in the person of Russian Matvey Safonov, PSG has received a new hero, and the goalkeeper himself can now safely claim a permanent place in the starting lineup of the Parisians.

Gianluigi Buffon himself did not stand aside: "I am very happy for Matvey, because he is a talented goalkeeper, and in recent years he has not had many opportunities to prove himself. Great!" the Italian told Sport24.

Of course, Safonov's heroism has become the number one sports theme in Russia.

"This is a unique achievement. Especially at a tournament of this level. He has such a character — he sets a goal and achieves it. There was an opinion that it was better for him to go to other teams for playing time. When people asked me about this, I always said that Matvey knows better, he is inside. But it's obvious that Matvey chose the right path, as we all saw," Matvey's first coach Alexei Chistyakov said in an interview with SE.

Alexander Mostovoy noted that the Flamengo players were not hitting at all, but nevertheless praised Safonov: "It's great that Matvey played again and won the penalty shootout. Now it will become harder for Enrique to leave Matvey on the bench — questions will immediately arise. But did Safonov finally win the competition from Chevalier? Imagine for a second if PSG had lost on penalties — what would have happened then? It's good that it turned out that way, and Matvey kicked four penalties in a row. It is clear that the Flamengo players have struck so that even a pregnant woman will hit back, but it doesn't matter. Matvey is clinging to his chance, well done."

"I was on the road, I couldn't watch the game. But nobody catches so many penalties every day. Especially at this level. Congratulations to Matvey. A great achievement. God forbid that he continues like this," said Stanislav Cherchesov, who trusted the young Safonov at Euro 2020.

And Yuri Semin believes that Matvey now has a great chance to become the number one of PSG: "Emotions are the best. Matvey Safonov represents Krasnodar, our league in which he played, and the Russian national team. It should also be noted that the goalkeeper coach of the Russian national team, Vitaly Kafanov, has been working with him for a long time and continues to work with him. And Matvey himself is doing well. They advised him not to leave, to change the team. And he waited for his chance. And he didn't just wait, but worked hard. This is an outstanding success! Matvey has a great chance to continue playing in the starting lineup of a great club like PSG. We are very happy for Safonov."

The Russian team will play its next match on December 20, when Fontenay will host it in the 1/32 finals of the French Cup.