10. Gheorghe Bucur ("Kuban")
64 substitutions (1,366 minutes), 7 goals + assists
The former Kuban footballer opens the ranking of the best jokers in the history of the RPL. Bucur replenished the staff of the Krasnodar team in 2010 and for six years faithfully served him. True, he did not succeed in becoming a solid base player, as a result of which he began most of the meetings on the bench. So, in the championship of Russia on his account there are 125 matches, and only in the 61st of them did he appear at the start.
For Bucur, the 2010/11 season was the most successful, in which he burst out with six goals, and four of them helped the team gain the upper hand. At the same time, one of the most memorable balls was in the 2012/13 championship. “Kuban” set a personal achievement, taking fifth place in the championship, and Gheorghe himself was an excellent substitute in an important confrontation with Lokomotiv. It took him only three minutes to hit the gates of Dario Kresic and bring the Southerners a major victory.
9. Ablai Mbeng (“Akhmat”)
64 substitutions (1,138 minutes), 7 goals + assists
Ablai Mbeng is located higher, over the past five years protecting the colors of the Grozny Akhmat. Like the Romanian, the Senegalese could not earn the trust of the coaching staff, as a result of which 64 of 104 meetings in the RPL started on the bench. Nevertheless, this did not stop him from gaining 23 goals and is already on the third line in the list of the best scorer in the history of the club. Often only Mauricio (28) and Andrei Fedkov (36) differed.
Mbenga can safely be called an expert in goals in the endings. In total, after the 76th minute, he scored six times, moreover, three times and at all in compensated time. It is not surprising that the main masterpiece of Ablai in his Russian career also fell on this segment. In November 2015, he entered the field only in the 77th minute, and after four brought his team victory in the confrontation with Spartak. The attacker took the ball in the box and with a spectacular shot, he caught Artyom Rebrov by surprise.
8. Ricardo Laborde (Krasnodar)
57 substitutions (1,333 minutes), 7 goals + 5 assists
Even less often, Ricardo Laborde appeared at the heart of his team. Nevertheless, his arrival coincided with the formation of Krasnodar in the status of one of the favorites of the Russian championship. In the first season, he helped the “bulls” climb to fifth place in the RPL and reach the final of the Cup of Russia. True, the Colombian himself was not pleased with the performance, and his most striking performance was at a meeting with Dynamo. After the substitution, the midfielder first scored the winning goal, and then earned a deletion for a foul on Yuri Zhirkov.
As a result, Laborde played a total of 116 matches for Krasnodar in five seasons and left the team as a free agent. Moreover, even if he did not manage to become an important black-green football player, at least it can be considered their lucky talisman. In those cases when Ricardo was noted for accurate blows, his team did not concede - in 15 cases, they won, and twice played a draw.
7. Micon (Lokomotiv)
43 substitutions (1024 minutes), 7 goals + 4 assists
The midfielder of the railway workers also failed to fully realize the potential laid down in him and become the team leader. In 2010, Lokomotiv spent € 4 million on the purchase of a technical Brazilian, but in seven years he was noted with only 23 goals and 21 assists. However, in 2016, he entered his name in the history of the RPL, becoming the author of the fastest double at that time. In the game with Anji, it took him only four minutes to double-print the gates of Makhachkala residents.
It is worth noting that Micon was extremely effective as a joker. It’s enough to recall at least his goal against CSKA in October 2016. The Brazilian appeared on the field in the 65th minute and after 27 seconds he recorded his winning goal in his asset. In total, his track record included seven accurate shots and four assists - one less than that of Laborde.
6. Magomed-Shapi Suleymanov (Krasnodar)
30 substitutions for substitution (680 minutes), 7 goals
At the same time, one of the leaders in terms of efficiency among substitution players can be called Magomed Shapi-Suleymanov. Over the past two seasons, Murad Musaev regularly relied on the pupil at critical moments and he justified the trust. In just two years, seven different teams suffered from the young talent, and each of the goals helped Krasnodar to get the upper hand.
The exploits of Suleymanov are not limited to internal primacy. The midfielder was extremely successful as a substitute in the games with Standard, Bayer and Valencia in the Europa League, and his ball into the gates of the Spanish squad was absolutely amazing. Despite the highest efficiency, the attacking midfielder does not suit the role of the joker. So, in August 2019, the usually restrained Magomed-Shapi openly declared that he was tired of remaining in reserve.
5. Serdar Azmun (Zenit)
52 substitutions (1398 minutes), 8 goals + 5 assists
Unlike Suleymanov, Azmun is not only a solid player in the foundation of the current champion of the country, but also one of the most clogged RPL forwards of recent years. For seven seasons in Russia, the Iranian managed to play in three teams and record 52 accurate hits at his own expense. And a year ago, he took second place in the scorers race, losing only to Fedor Chalov, and in the current one he has excellent chances of success. It is not surprising that in the summer of 2020, Italian Lazio and Napoli became interested in Serdar, as well as the English Crystal Palace.
At the same time, Azmun began as a reserve player, but in just a season he turned into a main striker. For the first two years in the RPL, an Iranian successfully appeared six times during the matches, after which he regularly found his name among the main players. The last time he successfully replaced his partner in May 2017, when he helped Rostov take the upper hand over Anji.
4. Wanderson (Krasnodar, Dynamo)
48 substitutions (1095 minutes), 8 goals + 3 assists
Wanderson, on the contrary, immediately became the player of the main team of Krasnodar, and subsequently one of the most striking forwards and top scorers in the history of the club. However, at some point, the Brazilian began to lose Ari's competition, as a result of which he was increasingly on the bench. In this regard, the 2014/15 season was particularly unsuccessful, during which the attacker only 14 times found a place at the base.
The Brazilian could not immediately get used to the role of a changer and in the first season he only distinguished himself after appearing from the bench, but already in the next year he tripled the number of precision strikes. “Rostov” and “Kuban”, as well as “Ural” suffered, eventually losing to the opponent with a score of 0: 6. In total, the striker upset eight times goalkeepers after a substitution, and all of them scored for the southerners. After moving to Dynamo, Vanderson scored only once.
3. Dmitry Kirichenko (“Rostov”)
34 substitutions (538 minutes), 8 goals
In the first half of the 2000s, Dmitry Kirichenko was considered the main joker of Russian football. The striker was forced to withstand fierce competition in CSKA and practically had no chance to break into the main team, but continued to be useful, perfectly entering the game along its course. After successful appearances for FC Moscow and Saturn, the 34-year-old forward moved to Rostov and again reminded of the ability to coolly replace. As a result, eight goals in 34 matches and rising to third place in the list of top scorers in the history of the national championship.
It is noteworthy that more than half - five goals - Kirichenko scored in the season, which was his last career. The final goal in the RPL took place in a match with Volga and was framed in a beautiful style. Forward won the fight in the penalty area and a spectacular strike from the summer drove him into the net.
2. Evgeny Markov (Tosno, Dynamo, Rubin)
32 substitutions (773 minutes), 8 goals + 3 assists
Eugene Markov acted no less effectively after replacing, but he is still far from Kirichenko's regalia. By the age of 25, the forward managed to beat the clubs of the Russian Premier League, but so far he could not become a solid base player anywhere. It seemed that after a successful season in Tosno, one of the championship teams could well bet on him, but neither Dynamo nor Rubin has yet happened.
It is noteworthy that, as a joker, Markov most often tried to use the coaching staff of blue and white, but in 15 meetings the striker scored only twice. Compared to five goals in the Tosno T-shirt, such results were found to be unsatisfactory, which provoked a transfer to Rubin. However, Eugene has not yet managed to fully open up in Kazan.
1. Seydoux Doumbia (CSKA)
14 substitutions (400 minutes), 8 goals + 4 assists
The main RPL joker in the 2010s was a football player who cannot be called a substitution player. Seydoux Doumbia twice became the top scorer of the Russian championship, helped CSKA to become the country's champion three times and is rightly considered one of the most prominent foreign players of the past decade. At the same time, the Ivorian acted effectively not only when he appeared at the start.
Doumbia spent 111 matches for the army team, went out at the base 94 times and only 14 times in the course of the meeting. Three times for rivals this turned into problems. So the Ivorian designed doubles in games with “Wings of the Soviets”, “Ural” and “Kuban”. For comparison, even Messi came out to replace less successfully. In the role of a joker, Lionel scored 0.44 goals per game, while Seydou - 0.57.