Little Golovin: how are our legionnaires doing in Europe, Asia and the USA

This spring has been very busy for Russian football players playing in foreign clubs. Matvey Safonov has won back the status of PSG's main goalkeeper — he is fighting for victories in the French championship and the Champions League. Monaco midfielder Alexander Golovin is trying to help his team break into the main European Cup. In the USA, Alexey Miranchuk played a match for the first time as the captain of Atlanta United. In China, Chengdu Rongcheng defender Egor Sorokin leads his team in the championship, and Shanghai Shenhua head coach Leonid Slutsky has lifted the club from the bottom of the table to the middle.

Safonov

Last week turned out to be controversial for the Russian goalkeeper. First, he made several saves in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool and helped PSG win 2:1. Combined with a 2-0 home win, this took the team to the semifinals, where Parisians will play Bayern Munich on April 28 and May 6.

However, this was followed by a home defeat in the 30th round of the French championship against Lyon (1:2). Because of this, PSG allowed its closest pursuer, Lance, to get close. Now the Parisians are one point ahead of him and at the same time have a match in reserve. There are six meetings left for PSG before the end of the championship, and five for Lens.

On April 22, PSG will equal its rival in terms of the number of games, hosting Nantes at home. At the same time, in mid—May, Luis Enrique's wards will have to play away against Lance, which could be a key match in the fight for the championship.

It is worth noting that the game with Lyon was Safonov's 17th in a row in the PSG main squad. Since January, when he ousted Luc Chevalier from the base, Matvey has not given up his place at the start.

Parisian fortune: Safonov led PSG to the semi-finals of the Champions League

The Russian goalkeeper withstood the pressure of Anfield, kept the goal intact and became one of the main creators of the victory.

The Russian goalkeeper joined PSG a little less than two years ago. Last season, he won the championship and the French Cup, but played as a reserve for the star Italian Gianluigi Donnarumma, although he played a lot of matches in the first half of the season. In the summer, Donnarumma left for Manchester City, and the Parisians acquired Chevalier, who was initially relied on as the main goalkeeper. However, in the winter, after an injury and the subsequent series of unsuccessful matches, he gave way to Safonov.

"Safonov continues to play confidently and, with rare exceptions, avoid mistakes," Dmitry Bulykin, a former striker of the Russian national team, shared his opinion with Izvestia. — He's doing a great job of winning the competition from Chevalier so far. The main thing is for him to continue playing at the same level as he is now. Then he will definitely not miss out on a starting spot until the end of the season. And if he brings PSG the championship and victory in the Champions League, he can keep his position for the next season.

Golovin

Having failed the first half of the championship, Monaco was stuck in the middle of the Ligue 1 table. But since February, it has increased and issued a series of eight consecutive victories, which returned the Monegasques to the fight for a place in the top four, giving the right to play in the next Champions League.

Alexander Golovin was one of the key players who made this rise possible. In particular, his goals brought victories away over PSG (3:1) and at home over one of the main competitors in the fight for a place in the top 4, Marseille (2:1). It is not surprising that after the injury of the Russian midfielder, the winning streak was interrupted and Monaco lost points in the last two matches.

First, there was an away crushing defeat against Paris (1-4), when Golovin was out of the application altogether. And in the last game at home against Auxerre (2-2), Alexander was only able to come on as a substitute in the 78th minute. His team drew. She is currently in seventh place, four points behind third place. There are four rounds left until the end of the tournament.

—Golovin, as usual, is one of the leaders of Monaco and is trying his best to keep the club afloat," Andrei Chervichenko, the former owner of Spartak Moscow, said in a conversation with Izvestia. — For all eight seasons, if he is not injured, he has a solid place at the base, scoring goals and providing assists. He is not always stable, but this is more likely due to the general instability of the team, which constantly changes coaches, so it plays well for periods, and then it may fail. That's why, in fact, I have never competed with PSG for gold. This season is the same, but Golovin may well help Monaco get into the Champions League.

Playing on someone else's field: how are Russian legionnaires doing in Europe

It's not just Safonov, Golovin and Khaykin — who of our players are playing in the top leagues of the continent

Miranchuk

On April 16, in the 1/16 finals of the U.S. Open Cup, Atlanta United won 3-1 against Chattanooga and advanced. This match was the first in which Alexey Miranchuk was the captain of the team.

He received the armband due to an injury to Miguel Almiron, the permanent captain of Atlanta. At the same time, the club does not hide the fact that Alexey will now be a permanent candidate for this role in the absence of Almiron. At the same time, the team failed to start the MLS championship. In the first eight rounds, Atlanta lost six times with one win and one draw. Miranchuk played six matches and scored four goals.

Atlanta is penultimate in the Eastern Conference, four points from the playoff zone.

Slutsky

Leonid Slutsky has been the head of Shanghai Shenhua for the third season. He twice led him to second place in the Chinese championship, fighting for gold until the last round. But it will be much more difficult to do this in the current draw, as the team started the championship with minus 10 points.

It was a punishment from local football authorities for participating in match-fixing. Nevertheless, Slutsky's team managed to win back those 10 points and is now confidently in the middle of the standings after seven rounds. And the leader is Chengdu Rongcheng, one of Shanghai's competitors over the past two seasons, for which Russian defender Egor Sorokin has been playing since February. His team has a two-point gap from second place.