In the match of the first round of the RPL season 2020/21 with Khimki, CSKA midfielder Alan Dzagoev scored a goal and interrupted the dry streak that had been running since March 2018. However, he did not manage to end the meeting on a positive note. Already five minutes after the start of the second half, the midfielder left the field due to injury. During one of the episodes, he grabbed the back of the thigh and asked for a replacement.
CSKA head coach Viktor Goncharenko hastened to declare that Dzagoev's injury was not serious, but did not rule out that the midfielder could miss a significant period of time.
“Tomorrow we will assess Dzagoev’s condition. I hope that there is nothing wrong. But knowing him, you can expect everything. Maybe tomorrow or the day after tomorrow something will appear. So far, in his words: there is nothing terrible there, "- quotes Goncharenko" Championship ".
And now Dzagoev was injured again 😔
Health to Alan 🙏🏻https: //t.co/e1OjIBpDKlpic.twitter.com/goaJIxVxOu
Dzagoev is one of the most traumatic Russian footballers in history. According to Transfermarkt, due to 19 different injuries, Dzagoev missed a total of 826 days, in which 109 official matches fit. Considering that in total he played in 354 meetings, we can conclude that Alan spent a little less than a quarter of his career in the infirmary. But already in his youth, the midfielder was considered the future star of the national team, and in 2008 the media reported about the interest in him from a number of European top clubs.
Nevertheless, at a young age, Dzagoev did not dare to leave CSKA, and since 2012, injuries began to haunt him constantly. The first serious of them was received in the 36th round match with Lokomotiv as part of the 2011/12 transition season. Alan broke his little toe on his right leg, as a result of which he needed to undergo surgery in Germany. It was rumored that this damage could cost the midfielder his performance at the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine, but he managed to recover. As it turned out, not in vain. The Russian scored three goals in the group stage and became one of the top scorers in the championship. Together with him, this title was shared by Cristiano Ronaldo, Mario Gomez, Fernando Torres, Mario Balotelli and Mario Mandzhukic.
From that moment on, there was not a single year in Dzagoev's career, during which he did not miss less than 28 days due to health problems. At the same time, for a long time, the first injury to the back of the thigh, received in the confrontation with Rostov in September 2013, remained the most severe. Then Alan was replaced in the 80th minute.
“There is damage. How serious it is, we'll see. This is the back of the thigh - maybe he will miss two or three weeks, ”said Leonid Slutsky, who was heading CSKA at that time.
A few days later, Dzagoev began classes on an individual program, but he could not return to the general group. A full resumption of training was constantly postponed, and he played the next official match only 70 days after the game with the yellow-blue. It is noteworthy that Rostov again became CSKA's rival.
A year later, Dzagoev, as part of the Russian national team, took part in the World Championship in Brazil. The team's first performance at the world championship in 12 years was not the most successful, and Alan himself was not a regular player and appeared on the field exclusively during the second half. At the same time, after the tournament, one more damage was revealed. As CSKA General Director Roman Babaev reported, the midfielder returned to the club with an Achilles injury. This not only blurred Alan's preparation for the new season, but also led to the fact that he missed four meetings, including the game for the Russian Super Cup with the same "Rostov".
Failures continued to haunt the talented football player over the following years. But if in 2014 Dzagoev was still able to take part in the national teams tournament, then two years later he was much less fortunate. Two and a half weeks before the start of the European Championship, he suffered a fracture of the metatarsal bone and was not included in the application of the Russian national team. However, he took part in eight out of ten matches of the qualifying tournament. However, in his absence, Leonid Slutsky's wards failed at Euro 2016 and took the last, fourth, place in Quartet B.
Subsequently, Dzagoev suffered a hamstring injury and missed 115 days in total in 2016. The following year, he was admitted to the infirmary four times due to various health problems, but none of them were of a serious nature. The trouble came at one of the most important moments in the career of the current generation of Russian footballers. Two months before the home world championship, Alan injured his right hip, and in his first game with Saudi Arabia - his left.
“The left leg broke for the first time. This usually happened to the right. He did everything professionally, so it is difficult to name the cause of the damage. There is pain when walking, but for the first three to four days this is normal. Tomorrow I'm starting to train in the gym and do some exercises. Timing? While it is difficult to say something, doctors will look at the dynamics. It was a blow to me. Good little. The most important tournament in my life passes me by. I hope I can still play. God willing, we will reach the 1/8 finals, and I will be able to enter the field. Hope remains. A ray of light appeared after a conversation with doctors, ”Dzagoev said in June 2018.
As a result, the CSKA midfielder spent less than half at the home World Cup. In addition to 24 minutes in the opening match of the tournament, he came out for 18 minutes against Croatia in the quarterfinals. It is all the more remarkable that it was Dzagoev who became the author of the assist for Mario Fernandez, which allowed the Russian national team to transfer the meeting to a penalty shootout. Now one can only guess what benefit he could bring to the team of Stanislav Cherchesov, if he was healthy throughout the championship.
In November, Dzagoev began to suffer from problems with his hip again, as a result of which he missed eight more games, including the legendary meeting with Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu. Then the wards of Viktor Goncharenko defeated the current winners of the Champions League with a score of 3: 0. At the same moment, statements by the CSKA management about a new contract with the football player began to appear in the press. Babaev said that the athlete's agreement expires in the summer of 2019, and also hinted that the club intends to extend it on much more modest terms.
“We entered into negotiations with Alan for a long time to extend the contract. I think we'll eventually reach an agreement. We discussed a three-year contract. We believe in Alan. It is clear that the agreement must provide reasonable terms. Especially taking into account Dzagoev's statistics over the past few years. And she, to be honest, is not very impressive. Although we all recognize that Alan is a very strong footballer, CSKA has brought a lot of benefits, ”Babayev told Sport-Express.
In this regard, Dzagoev found it difficult to argue with the bosses of the army. Since the 2016/17 season, he has appeared on the field only 65 times and scored 22 (12 + 10) points for performance. At the same time, in the last competitive year at that time, he played only 607 minutes and performed one assist.
At the time of signing a new contract with CSKA, Dzagoev was again recovering from another injury. Moreover, it is she who remains the most difficult in his career at the moment. In a friendly match with Cartagena, Alan tore the cruciate ligaments of his knee and was forced to turn to the help of surgeons again. As a result, he was absent from the field from February to November 2019 and missed a total of 203 days and 21 meetings. At the same time, he did not participate in official games for a year. Despite this, the army club offered him a new two-year agreement.
Dzagoev's return to the field took place in the match with Sochi in November 2019, but he again failed to please his fans. First, the coronavirus pandemic intervened, and then another hip injury. Because of her, Alan missed a month and spent only three games in the final part of the season.