Will Safonov be able to win the second World Cup in a row: analysis of the Russian's game

This Saturday, May 30, Budapest will host the UEFA Champions League final, in which the French football club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Arsenal London will play. In the second half of the season, Russian goalkeeper Matvey Safonov became the main goalkeeper of the Parisian team, winning the competition from Luca Chevalier. Will Safonov be able to become the first Russian to win the Champions League twice and be the main player in the squad? All the details are in the Izvestia article.

Form of commands

PSG has reached the finals of Europe's most prestigious club tournament for the second year in a row. Despite the difficult group stage, in which Luis Enrique's team became only 11th in the table with 14 points out of a possible 24, the Parisians showed a completely different football in the playoffs. On the way to the Budapest meeting, the Parisian club was able to knock out Monaco (5-4), London Chelsea (8-2) and Liverpool (4-0). In the semifinals, PSG defeated Bayern Munich, one of the main contenders for the title, in a very difficult match (5:6). At the same time, the game in Paris became the most productive in history at this stage of the European tournament — 5:4. At the same time, the Paris Grand won the gold medals of the French championship (Ligue 1) and, despite the early departure from the French Cup at the 1/16 finals stage, it still retains the chances to spend another fantastic season with the Russian goalkeeper in the base.

The 2025/26 season has already made history for Arsenal. The Gunners have won the English Premier League (Premier League) for the first time in 22 years. At the same time, Mikel Arteta's players have finished second in the last two seasons, losing each time to Pep Guardiola's Manchester City gold medals. Things were also going well for the Londoners in the Champions League. In the group stage of the tournament, the club showed phenomenal results — eight wins out of eight possible and 24 points scored. In the playoff round, the Gunners played pragmatic football, knocking out Bayer Leverkusen (3-1 on aggregate) and Sporting Lisbon (1-0). and Atletico Madrid (2-1).

Safonov's role in PSG's success

During the season, PSG had a change of the main goalkeeper. After Gianluji Donnaruma left for Manchester City in the summer of 2025, Chevalier was bought from Lille for €40 million. However, at the end of the year, the Russian was able to win the competition and gain a foothold in the starting line-up of the team in both the French championship and the Champions League. Despite the fact that the Parisians regularly concede goals in matches, Safonov demonstrates a confident game both on the way out and in the goal line. For example, in the match against Lens on May 13, the Russian goalkeeper made eight saves, kept the goal "dry" and received the highest rating from French journalists. Safonov's game was called "phenomenal," and the goalkeeper himself was nicknamed "The Russian Wall in Paris." It is important to note that Safonov already won the Champions League last year and became the fifth Russian football player to win the main European tournament. However, none of Safonov's compatriots managed to win the Champions League twice, and none of the Russians won this tournament as the main goalkeeper of their team.

What the experts say

Safonov's game in Paris attracts not only PSG fans and Russians, but also football experts. For example, the head coach of Akhmat Grozny and former coach of the Russian national football team, Stanislav Cherchesov, said that he was following Safonov's success in France, and highlighted his performance in the match against Bayern. Puskas Arena is no stranger to my stadium, it brought me good luck in the Hungarian Cup final. I hope that this stadium and the field will be happy for Matvey Safonov," the specialist added. A similar opinion is shared by State Duma deputy Dmitry Svishchev. The parliamentarian noted that he supports PSG among the European teams.

Roman Rotenberg, Vice President of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation and head coach of the Russia 25 national team, also congratulated Safonov on reaching the finals of the main European Tournament and wished him good luck.

The PSG — Arsenal match starts this Saturday at 19:00 Moscow time at the Puskas Arena in Budapest.