In the second leg final of the RPL Path of the Russian Cup between Zenit and CSKA, goalkeeper Vladimir Shaikhutdinov made his debut for the military team. His appearance on the field was unplanned, but it happened thanks to an unpleasant combination of circumstances for Vladimir Fedotov’s team. Starting player Vladislav Torop was injured (serious concussion) in a collision with Zenit defender Nuraly Alip. Igor Akinfeev was expected to replace him, but the red and blue “number one” apparently has some health problems that prevent him from playing. As a result, Shaikhutdinov made his debut, appearing on the field in the 36th minute.
For those who closely follow Russian Cup matches, Shaikhutdinov is already a familiar figure. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Vladimir made a name for himself in our football even before making his debut for CSKA. All thanks to his vivid interviews during the games. Few football players are as confident in front of live cameras when they need to say something, but here we have a 19-year-old kid!
Shaikhutdinov’s meaningful and witty answers in conversations with journalists made his interview perhaps the main success of the army team’s cup meetings.
Not surprisingly, CSKA began to send Vladimir for interviews at every Russian Cup match. During the match against Zenit, Shaikhutdinov also made a comment, not yet imagining that he himself would soon appear on the field. And, as usual, he announced his Telegram channel dedicated to cinema: it is called “KinoVolka”.
The goalkeeper-film critic already has more than three thousand subscribers after the blush in St. Petersburg. And now, of course, there will be more. An interesting channel is a good hobby.
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Shaikhutdinov graduated from the CSKA Academy. He played for army teams in the Youth Football League (30 matches and 52 goals conceded in YuFL-1) and in the Russian Youth Championship (31 matches and 33 goals conceded in MFL). At the same time, Vladimir became involved in work with the first army team.
For the first time, Shaikhutdinov entered the CSKA team in April 2023, in the last Russian Cup, which the army team won. Perhaps this would have happened earlier, but at winter training camp in January, Vladimir suffered a meniscus injury and underwent surgery. Shaikhutdinov was on the bench, even in the victorious final against Krasnodar in Luzhniki. And in the RPL, the goalkeeper is constantly included in the match lineup since this season. Until today, Vladimir spent 30 games with Fedotov on the bench.
Shaikhutdinov played for CSKA only in the training camp. I was also remembered for a couple of unique saves made… because of my face. Really an unusual guy. But in fact, Vladimir has at least excellent physical characteristics for a goalkeeper, height 195 cm and school is higher, army.
Shaikhutdinov and Torop are Akinfeev’s possible heirs at CSKA. Vladimir, in an interview for Match TV, spoke about what working in the same goalkeeping team as the former Russian national team goalkeeper brings him.
“The opportunity to train with such a person is a great gift of fate,” Vladimir admitted. – Still, this situation is developing positively for me: the experience that Igor conveys, the moments he discusses with you, can be considered an invaluable contribution to my future… In terms of psycho-emotional state, you can approach Igor on any topic, because in his career he went through a lot of things. I can ask: “How did you deal with the mental discomfort after a failed match? What to do in such a situation? He explains that it is not necessary to deepen oneself, but rather to develop. In the training process, he gives instructions about the moments of work: leave here, come back up here, etc.
I have a story: when I was 7-8 years old, my parents agreed with my first coach that Igor would give me a signed book and a ball. So I couldn’t believe that it was by Akinfeev himself, I read that book to the bottom. When I came to the academy, he played, when I started training with the main team, he played. It seems that when my career is over, he will still be playing. I think he can.”
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Zenit failed to score a field goal against Shaikhutdinov in their debut match. The ball entered the net only once, after an offside kick. In all other episodes, the young CSKA goalkeeper played with confidence and stood out in the starts. Only in the penalty shootout did he not become a hero, missing five out of five. But everything is ahead for Vladimir.
