Alexey Miranchuk is closer than ever to the Europa League final: to get there, his Atalanta needs to beat Marseille at home after the away draw (1-1). Of course, in this case he will not be the first Russian in a European Cup final. Although so far there are only two left. It’s time to remember them.
We exclude players from national teams: CSKA 2005 and Zenit 2008 in the victorious UEFA Cup. We list them in one line. Igor Akinfeev, Sergei Ignashevich, Alexey and Vasily Berezutsky, Yuri Zhirkov, Evgeniy Aldonin and Rolan Gusev played for the military team against Sporting. For the St. Petersburg Rangers: Vyacheslav Malafeev, Roman Shirokov, Alexander Anyukov, Igor Denisov, Konstantin Zyryanov, Viktor Faizulin and Andrei Arshavin.
Dmitry Alenichev – winner of the UEFA Cup – 2002/2003 and the Champions League – 2003/2004 with Porto
Photo: Getty Images
Dmitri Alenichev
Winner of the UEFA Cup – 2002/2003 and the Champions League – 2003/2004 with Porto
Alenichev’s period in Portugal was the best thing that happened to the Russian legionaries. When Dmitry moved there from Perugia in the summer of 2000, the local press anticipated something great: “Over the last decade, Porto has not had a top ten like this Russian. “He is not a footballer, but a football artist,” wrote the prestigious newspaper O Jogo. Well, the expectations were confirmed: the Russian played 135 games for the Portuguese giants, scored 20+22 and won nine trophies. Including two European Cups.
In the victorious UEFA Cup, Alenichev missed only two not very important matches: the partners faced Austria in the second round and Lens in the third without him. 11 games, two goals and three assists, great. Especially considering that he scored 1 + 1 in the final against Celtic.
At the end of the first half, the goalkeeper deflected Dmitry’s volley directly at the foot of future Dynamo player Derlei, to no avail. And at the beginning of the second, the Russian realized the one-on-one situation and got an assist from Deco. On both occasions the Scots came back, the third time, in extra time, it was not enough for them to achieve one more feat. Alenichev spent all 120 minutes on the field.
Dmitry also did well in Italy:
“Everyone said we were quitting the game.” In 2000, Alenichev’s club deprived Juventus of gold.
Next year, the arrogant Portuguese set their sights on the Champions League. Alenichev did not play in the first two rounds and Porto only scored one point. And then Dmitry started Marseille in two games in a row (3-2, 1-0). Then he will miss only two games, defeating Manchester United in the round of 16 with an assist to Benny McCarthy (2-1). In the unexpected final against Monaco, the Russian repeated last year’s trick and scored 1+1. Moreover, he appeared on the field only in the 60th minute. First there was an emerald pass to Deco, and then Derley led Alenichev to a duel with the goalkeeper.
“He was a special player for me. This is one of the smartest soccer players I have ever met. Extremely open, able to completely adapt to my understanding of football, Dmitry became incredibly dear to me. I will never forget this man. If he were younger, he would now play for me at Chelsea,” José Mourinho later said about Alenichev. Instead of moving to London, Dmitry, 31, returned to Moscow only to end up in football a couple of years later with a scandal. It’s a shame he really wasn’t younger.
Alexander Kerzhakov won the 2006/2007 UEFA Cup with Sevilla
Photo: Bill Murray/SNS Group via Getty Images
Alexander Kerzhakov
UEFA Cup winner – 2006/2007 with Sevilla
Kerzhakov is well remembered in Seville: it is not in vain that he was accepted there for coaching internships this year. Even if he wasn’t as good there as Alenichev in Porto, he definitely has something to remember. For example, a goal against Barcelona (2-1) and three titles in the 2006/2007 season: in addition to the UEFA Cup, the Russian won the local Cup and the Spanish Super Cup, accumulating 11+5 in 46 games in just over a year. The statistics could have been much more significant if the striker had not returned to Russia (to Dynamo) to train and qualify for Euro 2008. Guus Hiddink, by the way, ultimately did not choose Kerzhakov and preferred Roman Adamov. The decision seemed strange both then and now.
About Kerzhakov’s internship:
Alexander Kerzhakov is doing an internship in Spanish club Sevilla
Alexander played almost the entire playoffs of the victorious UEFA Cup (he missed one match) and immediately began to give results, giving Steaua a goal and an assist in the 1/16 final (2:0, 1:0). Tottenham also had a winning bench with Robbie Keane in the quarterfinals (2-1, 2-2).
In the decisive match against Espanyol, Alexander was released in the 64th minute. He did not take any effective action, however he helped Sevilla win the following European Cup (2-2, 3-1 penalty) by sending off Moisés Hurtado , who committed a foul.
Igor Shalimov, Denis Cheryshev and Igor Korneev
Photo: Getty Images
Also noteworthy are those who won the European trophy without appearing on the field in the decisive match. They won the UEFA Cup: in the 1993/1994 season with Inter Igor Shalimov (was in the reserve), in the 2001/2002 season with Feyenoord Igor Korneev (remained on the bench) and in the 2013/2014 season with the Sevilla Denis Cheryshev (He was wounded). The latter won both with Real and in the 2015/2016 Champions League, without even being on the bench. Like Igor Dobrovolsky in the 1992/1993 Champions League with Marseille.
Also worth highlighting are the winners of the 2001 Intertoto Cup with Celta Valery Karpin and Alexander Mostovoy. In the two-legged final they beat Zenit (2-1, 2-2), and the future coach of the Russian national team scored twice.
