Andrey Kanchelskis
December 26, 1991. Championship of England. “Oldham” - “Manchester United” - 3: 6.
Kanchelskis moved to Manchester United from Donetsk Shakhtar in the summer of 1991 for 650 thousand pounds and immediately became a favorite of Mankunian fans. True, they had to wait for the first goal played by a domestic football player until December.
But the ball turned out incredibly beautiful. Alex Feryuson's wards on the road with a tennis score beat Oldham - 6: 3, and Kanchelskis chalked up the second goal of the guests. Grabbing the ball in an alien half of the field, Andrey with incredible speed in the corporate style immediately ran away from three defenders, beat the goalkeeper, turned around and just shot. By the way, “Oldham” eventually turned into a favorite opponent for the Russian. In matches with this team, the midfielder scored four goals.
Andrey Kanchelskis
April 16, 1992. Championship of England. Manchester United - Southampton - 1-0.
I remember one more goal scored by Kanchelskis that season. In the hardest match with Southampton, the domestic footballer succeeded in an incredible blow to a rally right in the far nine after a corner kick. This shot brought the Red Devils a major victory in the fight for the championship. However, in the next four rounds, Manchester United scored only one point and lost the title to Leeds. But already in the next season, Andrey won the first gold medal of the Premier League, and a year later - the second.
Andrey Arshavin
August 29th, 2009. Nuclear submarine. Manchester United - Arsenal - 2: 1.
After Kanchelskis, Dmitry Kharin and Alexei Smertin, the Russians did not come to England for a long time, more often choosing warm Spain. The situation has changed only thanks to the bronze performance of the national team at Euro 2008. The game of Guus Hiddink's squad prompted the leading submarine clubs to acquire the Russians. Soon on the Foggy Albion were Andrei Arshavin, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Yuri Zhirkov.
But Arshavin showed himself most brilliantly. A place in the history of Arsenal is guaranteed to him at least for poker at Anfield. In total for the “Gunners” Andrei scored 32 goals, many of which turned out to be very beautiful. So, I remember the stunning long-range shot of the midfielder at the gate of the former Kanchelskis “MU” team. True, he did not help the Londoners win. In the second half, they missed twice and were defeated.
Diniyar Bilyaletdinov
May 9, 2010. Nuclear submarine. “Everton” - “Portsmouth” - 1: 0.
Much less memorable was Bilyaletdinov’s career in Everton. As part of the Liverpool, he spent only two and a half seasons, and only played steadily in the first of them. Just his midfielder crowned with a terrific goal against Portsmouth. Having received the ball from a partner about 30 meters from the goal, Diniyar immediately struck exactly nine to his left.
Yuri Zhirkov
October 19, 2010. Champions League. “Spartak” - “Chelsea” - 0: 2.
He did not become the main one at Chelsea and Zhirkov. Carlo Ancelotti often plugged holes in the squad with a universal football player. Nevertheless, Yuri spent 49 matches in all tournaments for the “aristocrats” and scored one goal. Ironically, he was hammered into the gates of Spartak.
Red and white in 2010 began the group stage of the main European Cup with two victories and in the third round took the English grand. The fans gathered in the stands of the Luzhniki Stadium were waiting for the next Victoria of the hosts, but already in the middle of the first half they were dropped from heaven to the ground by Zhirkov. Taking advantage of the unsuccessful discount of Nicholas Pareha, a native of Tambov who came running rally sent the ball to the far nine from outside the penalty area.
Andrey Arshavin
February 16, 2011. Champions League. “Arsenal” - “Barcelona” - 2: 1.
But the most memorable ball in the Champions League was still Arshavin. In February 2011, he brought Arsenal a victory over Barcelona in the first match of the 1/8 finals. And initially, Andrei remained on the bench. He appeared on the field only in the end, at that time the Londoners were inferior with a minimum score.
But in just five minutes they managed to turn the course of the meeting upside down. First, Robin Van Persie restored the status quo, and then the Russian brought victory to the hosts. After a subtle transfer by Samir Nasri, many football players would have struck a blow at strength, but Arshavin's exceptional talent prompted him another option - he carefully put the ball into the far corner for execution. Caught on the counter Victor Valdes did not even jerk.
Roman Pavlyuchenko
February 22, 2011. Nuclear submarine. “Blackpool” - “Tottenham Hotspur” - 3: 1.
And the most productive Russian in England is Pavlyuchenko. In 113 matches with Tottenham, he scored 42 goals. However, most of them are labor goals. The novel in a proprietary manner was pushing the defenders or the first to be on the rebound in the penalty area. But sometimes the striker managed to score really spectacularly. For example, at the end of a meeting with Blackpool, when the Londoners were already hopelessly losing, the striker, having processed the ball with his chest about 30 meters from the goal, struck the rally just under the crossbar. A small rebound from the defender only graced the episode.
Diniyar Bilyaletdinov
April 9, 2011. “Wolves” - “Everton” - 0: 3.
A few months later, Bilyaletdinov was noted for another amazing goal. And again Diniyar demonstrated his powerful blow from his left foot. After the opponent’s footballer presented him with the ball in midfield, the Russian player calmly approached the penalty area and from a long distance delivered an unbreakable shot to the near nine.
Roman Pavlyuchenko
October 20, 2011. Europa League. Tottenham Hotspur Rubin 1-0.
And in October Pavlyuchenko, like Zhirkov a year earlier, upset the Russian club in European competition. From the actions of Roman suffered "Ruby". In the middle of the first half, Tottenham earned a dangerous free kick, and the ninth number unexpectedly took it.
As a result, Pavlyuchenko succeeded in a powerful shot exactly at the near nine. The ball flew into the net from the cross, and Sergei Ryzhikov had no chance to save the team. Moreover, this goal was the only one in that meeting.
Pavel Pogrebnyak
August 22, 2012. Nuclear submarine. Chelsea - Reading - 4: 2.
In 2012, another footballer of the Russian national team Pavel Pogrebnyak got to England. Forward from Stuttgart moved to Fulham. A textured striker started in a new place. In the first three matches of the Premier League, he scored five goals and scored a hat-trick in the match against Wolverhampton. True, in the next nine games Pogrebnyak distinguished himself only once.
But this did not stop him from moving to Reading in the summer, which at that time belonged to Russian businessman Anton Zingarevich. And already in the third round of the new Premier League season, Pavel upset Chelsea. After a filing from the flank, he won a single combat in the corporate style and sent the ball under the crossbar with his head.
Bonus Alexey Smertin
September 29, 2004. Champions League Chelsea - Porto - 3: 1.
Smertin in Chelsea and Fulham scored only three goals, but this is not surprising, because the position of the opornik does not imply active participation in the attacks. Nevertheless, Alexei, like Zhirkov, distinguished himself for the “aristocrats” in the Champions League. In the first match in the main European competition in the new team, the Russian upset Porto. After the transfer from the flank, the domestic football player rally sent a shell to the far corner with a rebound from the lawn. A month later, Smertin helped Chelsea beat CSKA on the road. It was with his transfer that John Terry opened the account.