A game to spare: will Matvey Safonov be on the pitch in the Champions League
Russian players will take part in European Cup matches this week. Only in the Champions League in the upcoming penultimate round of the general stage will play three teams in which our legionnaires can take to the field. "Monaco" Alexander Golovin will take on the English "Aston Villa". French "Paris Saint-Germain" Matvey Safonov will meet at home with English "Manchester City". And Daniil Khudyakov's Austrian "Sturm" will go to visit Italian "Atalanta".
In the Europa League, Magomed Ozdoyev and Fedor Chalov's Greek PAOK will play at home against Czech Slavia, and Arsen Zakharyan's Spanish Real Sociedad will play away against Italian Lazio. On the prospects of Russian legionnaires and their teams - in the material "Izvestia".
Safonov
To the surprise of many, the goalkeeper of the Russian national team is doing quite well in his first season at PSG. Safonov has already played six games in the French league, two in the Champions League and one in the French Cup, which can be considered a success, as during the summer transfer few believed that Matvey would even get that much time on the field in the presence of star Italian Gianluigi Donnarumma, the European champion in 2020.
But Parisians head coach Luis Enrique let the Russian play in the fall and early winter as part of the rotation of the goalkeeper line. With Safonov in goal, the team advanced to the first round of the French Cup and also won five matches with one draw in the championship. Among other things, the 25-year-old goalkeeper played a significant role in December's away win over Monaco (4:2), then the main pursuer of PSG, managing to successfully come on as a substitute in the middle of the first half instead of the injured Donnarumma.
Safonov's situation in the Champions League is a bit more complicated. In September, he scored zero and helped his team beat Girona at home (1-0) in the first round of the general round. And in late November, with a good game did not save PSG from defeat in Munich from Bayern Munich (0:1).
The rest of the matches in this tournament played in the base Donnarumma, and with him things were not better. Three defeats in six matches led to the fact that the Parisians two rounds before the finish of the general round were on the verge of departure from the tournament. They are in 25th place, while the playoffs are open to teams ranked ninth through 24th.
The gap from their nearest competitor is just one point. The chances to finish in the top eight and directly enter the 1/8 finals are almost lost. Meanwhile, to be in the playoff round will also be difficult due to the high level of the nearest rivals.
January 21 Parisians will have to take home "Manchester City". And the following week they will go to visit German "Stuttgart", which is just behind the French club, behind him only on additional indicators with the equality of points.
It is not yet known whether Safonov will play in either of these two matches. After the New Year, he has never been trusted with a place in the starting lineup. It's hard to know if Luis Enrique will risk rotating the goalkeeper line for the crucial two Champions League matches.
- We don't know if Safonov will get a chance in the next two Champions League matches, and it's unlikely that the head coach will risk putting Donnarumma on the bench when a playoff spot is at stake," former Russian midfielder Alexander Mostovoi shared his opinion with Izvestia. - But if the Italian makes mistakes that will also lead to a failure to qualify for the next stage, Matvey may well get much more playing time. Although Gianluigi is too strong a goalkeeper to afford obvious failures. I think he will play in the coming weeks, but Safonov will definitely not hit the dirt the next time he takes the field, and that will surely happen before the end of the season, judging by the way Luis Enrique has let him play before. Especially in the French league the gap is already large and it is possible to rotate the goalkeeper line, while in the Champions League this is likely to be possible only in case of injury or suspension of the main goalkeeper.
Golovin
"Monaco" goes in 16th place in the overall round, ahead of PSG on three points. January 21 Monegasques will have to take home "Aston Villa" from Birmingham, which performs well in the championship of England and is fighting for a second consecutive entry into the Champions League. And in the current draw of the Champions League goes in fifth place.
In the last round Monaco will travel to Inter Milan, one of the leaders of the current Italian championship, which is in sixth place in the Champions League. Golovin's club have a good chance to qualify for the playoffs, but it will be important to avoid defeat in meetings with very difficult opponents.
At the same time, Monaco is in crisis in January - the team can not win in the French championship in four consecutive rounds and almost lost the chance for gold. In January, "Monaco" played twice. The first of these matches Alexander missed due to injury, and last weekend came out only in the 82nd minute.
- "Monaco are playing very unstable this season, but Golovin is doing his best to benefit the team when he has the opportunity," said former Spartak owner Andrei Chervichenko. - He may not be as bright as he was last season, but he is still one of the club's leaders. And all his problems arise only in case of injuries. If Alexander has time to fully recover after the last injury, he will definitely help Monaco in the Champions League.
Khudyakov
After the summer transfer to Sturm, the former Lokomotiv Moscow goalkeeper was in the back of the Austrian club for a long time. But in November, the main goalkeeper of the team from Graz Kjell Scheerpen underwent knee surgery. And Khudyakov played several matches in the Austrian championship and Champions League.
In particular, Sturm's only victory in the current Champions League was won in a match where the 21-year-old Russian was in the base. He managed to play a 1-0 home win over Spanish side Girona without conceding a goal. In the general round table, the Austrian team is in 29th place, five points behind the playoff zone.
To continue the fight in the tournament, the team in the remaining two rounds must win away from one of the leaders of the Italian championship Atalanta and at home against German RB Leipzig. It is not yet clear whether Khudyakov will play in these meetings. Meanwhile, the Austrian championship will resume only on February 7. There "Sturm" is leading, ahead of the nearest pursuer by three points.
- We can sense that Danya is still nervous when he takes the field for Sturm, but on the whole we can positively assess his performance in his first games for the Austrian club," Vladimir Kuzmichev, former Lokomotiv academy director, told Izvestia. - I'm cautiously optimistic about his prospects in Austria. It's important that Khudyakov understands that everything depends on him. It will not be easy, but Dani has everything to fight for a place in the core.
In the Europa League, Greek PAOK is in 22nd place in the table of the general round. Magomed Ozdoyev and Fedor Chalov's team have to play at home with Slavia Prague and away with Arsen Zakharyan's Real Sociedad. The club has a very small gap from its rivals - six pursuers have either the same number of points as PAOK, or are one point behind.
"Real Sociedad" January 23 in the penultimate round will play away with Rome "Lazio". He scored three points more than PAOK and almost secured a playoff round. Moreover, the club from San Sebastian is only one point behind the top eight and can go directly to the 1/8 finals of the Europa League.
Perhaps the next match will be the first after the injury for Arsen Zakharyan, who because of health problems has not yet played a single game in the current season, and in the application form was included only on January 13 for the home match of the Spanish championship against Valencia (1:0).
