"Dry" and goal: how Russian players spent a week in the Champions League

This week was marked by a relatively large number of matches for Russian players in the Champions League. Matvey Safonov played against the formidable Bayern Munich, Daniil Khudyakov made his debut with a clean sheet, and Aleksandr Golovin scored a brace. And, of course, we should not forget about the Asian adventures of our coach Leonid Slutsky. More details - in the Izvestia article.

One of the best

The Russian goalkeeper continues to compete with the European champion and his peer (who was born, moreover, on the same day as Matvey), Italian Gianluigi Donnarumma. And he does it quite successfully. As a consequence, Paris Saint-Germain head coach Luis Enrique bet on Safonov in the Champions League match against not just anyone, but Bayern Munich.

And not to say that the bet did not play out. Yes, PSG lost, Safonov missed, and some saw it as a mistake on the part of the Russian goalkeeper, but to be fair, Matvey did his best in the Bayern corner. Even after the match, Henrique did not personally blame Safonov for the defeat, saying he was "jointly responsible" for the unfortunate result.

Perhaps Matvey could have taken the ball in his hands, but the position for that was not the most comfortable. What do goalkeepers do otherwise? That's right: kick the ball away. Again, there was no free space for maneuvers, and in the moment the ball could have gone anywhere from Safonov's fists. Unfortunately, it went straight to Bayern defender Kim Min-Jae, who accurately shot with his head from very close range. Otherwise, Matvey often saved his team and managed to save Paris from a major defeat. At the end of the match - six saves and three saves. Safonov's counterpart, Manuel Neuer, had half as many saves.

The information and statistical portal SofaScore awarded Safonov a decent rating of 7.1, despite the goalkeeping error. Only three others were rated higher than him at PSG: defenders Willian Pacho (7.2) and Nuno Mendes (7.3), and midfielder Fabian Ruiz (7.4).

Overall, however, it's hard to make serious claims about Safonov's current play at PSG. In terms of the number of games without conceding a goal, Matvey has already surpassed Donnarumma this season - three saves in six games compared to two saves in 11 games for the Italian. So the Krasnodar pupil will surely still get his chance.

"Dry" debut

Another Russian goalkeeper had a more successful week in the Champions League. And even to some extent unexpectedly. Lokomotiv's Daniil Khudyakov joined Sturm back in the summer, but has yet to play a single official match for the Austrian club. But on November 27, the "waiting mode" was over - the 20-year-old Muscovite was entrusted with a place in the Sturm goal for the first time, and right away in a Champions League match.

Of course, not without luck, we must admit. The choice in favor of Khudyakov was the result of an injury to Sturm's main goalkeeper, Dutchman Kjell Scheerpen. It is noteworthy that with a healthy Scheerpen, Sturm lost all four of their opening matches in the Champions League. But when Khudyakov came on in his place, they won immediately! Coincidence? I don't think so...

Khudyakov fulfilled his main task for this match - he played "on zero". Yes, the opponent - not the most formidable, but quite worthy by the standards of "Sturm" - Spanish "Girona", which in addition expectedly owned the initiative for most of the match. True, they created few chances, and therefore Khudyakov didn't have a lot of work to do. But he managed his "minimum program" anyway, making one save. And that can't help but make us happy. And psychologically, the first "dry", and even in the debut match, and even in the Champions League, will clearly give Khudyakov confidence in the future. And there, and then, he will compete for the title of number one.

There was not enough help

The phrase "stability is a sign of skill" is apt to describe the likes of Aleksandr Golovin. Alexander is an almost indispensable player for Monaco in various tournaments, and the Champions League is no exception. Golovin has taken part in all five European matches played so far, and in four of them Monaco have not lost (three wins, over Barcelona, Crvena Zvezda and Bologna, as well as a draw with Dinamo Zagreb).

In the fifth match, against Benfica, Golovin finally made his first impact in this Champions League - he gave a goal to Elisse Ben Seghir and played all 90 minutes, earning the best rating in the team - 7.3. However, it did not help the Monegasques to score points - the "eternal", 36-year-old Angel Di Maria made two assists and helped Benfica to a 3-2 victory. "Monaco lost for the first time in this tournament. But it is not a tragedy. Previous successes still keep the French in the zone of the first eight, giving the right to direct access to the 1/8 finals.

Chinese affairs

Yes, "Shanghai Shenhua" under the leadership of the Russian specialist, alas, did not become the champion of China, but the season is not over for his team. Leonid Slutsky's wards continue their performance in the Asian Champions League. And so far they are confidently going to fulfill the intermediate goal - to reach the playoffs. To do this, in a group of 12 teams, they need to take one of the lines in the top eight. Shanghai Shenhua is currently sixth. However, four teams, not counting them, have the same number of points - 7 each. So the fight will be serious.

However, this week Slutsky's team made life a little more difficult for themselves, losing to South Korea's Gwangju (0:1). They will play there until the beginning of next year. The next opponent "Shenhua" - also from South Korea: with "Ulsan" will play on December 4. And the final match of the group stage is scheduled for February 18 - against Japan's Vissel Kobe.