On June 11, the European Football Championship starts, in which the Russian national team will take part.
Four months before the start of the tournament, RT publishes a list of the 50 best domestic players in order to assess how great a choice the coaching staff of the national team, led by Stanislav Cherchesov, have.
Each position is represented by five performers, which are graded according to the editorial opinion.
In the first part of the analysis, athletes are collected in defensive roles: goalkeepers, left, center and right defenders, as well as defensive midfielders.
Goalkeepers
1.Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow); 2. Matvey Safonov (Krasnodar); 3. Anton Shunin (Dynamo); 4. Alexander Maksimenko (Spartak); 5. Soslan Dzhanaev (Sochi).
The national goalkeeping school is traditionally considered one of the strongest in the world.
And now there are enough quality goalkeepers in Russia.
However, Igor Akinfeev remains “number one”.
At CSKA, the club's legend remains irreplaceable.
In 25 matches of the current season in the RPL and the Europa League, he conceded only 25 goals, despite the far from perfect game of the army's defense.
And in the Russian championship, the 34-year-old footballer is second only to Anton Shunin, Marinato Guilherme and Sergei Pesyakov in the number of zero matches (six).
It is not surprising that the media continue to write about the possible return of Akinfeev to the Russian national team.
However, he has already grown up a replacement in the person of Matvey Safonov and Alexander Maksimenko.
The gatekeeper of Krasnodar has made significant progress.
He helped the youth team to reach the final stage of the European Championship, received the first call to the national team, and also made his debut in the Champions League.
Maksimenko last year was not so stable and made mistakes in important matches, but still regularly saved Spartak.
But Anton Shunin spends one of the best seasons of his career.
He is the leader in the RPL both in the number of “dry” meetings with Guilherme and Pesyakov, and in the percentage of reflected strikes (81%).
It is not surprising that it was Dynamo who Cherchesov entrusted the place at the heart of the national team.
Soslan Dzhanaev continues to be regularly called up to the national team.
The 33-year-old footballer is one of the leaders of Sochi and does everything for the team to fight for a ticket to European competition.
And often the CSKA student makes really incredible saves.
Left defenders
1. Yuri Zhirkov (Zenit); 2. Fedor Kudryashov (Antalyaspor); 3. Evgeny Chernov (Krasnodar); 4. Georgy Shchennikov (CSKA); 5. Dmitry Skopintsev (Dynamo).
There are not so many high-quality Russian left-backs.
An indicative moment: 37-year-old Yuri Zhirkov still remains indispensable for the national team.
In the event of his transfer to the midfield line, the vacated zone in the national team was closed by Vyacheslav Karavaev or Fedor Kudryashov.
The latter, at 33, also shows excellent performance.
The Russian, who can play both on the flank and in the center of defense, is in demand in the Turkish Antalyaspor.
In the current season of the national championship, he played all the matches, except one, from the first to the last minute.
Evgeny Chernov has made significant progress.
In the summer, he moved from Rostov to Krasnodar and made his debut in the Champions League.
Gradually Chernov became a key figure in the constructions of Murad Musaev.
A capable footballer almost single-handedly closed the left edge of the southerners.
On the contrary, CSKA defender Georgy Shchennikov regressed.
The player was seriously damaged by health problems, due to which he missed almost the entire previous season.
Nevertheless, he remains one of the best in his position.
In 2020, Shchennikov was indispensable in the army team, if he did not drop out due to another injury.
Dmitry Skopintsev deserved to be in the top five.
In Krasnodar he did not gain a foothold, but in Dynamo he came to court.
The reason is the game scheme.
Lateral feels comfortable in a formation with three central defenders, in which it covers the entire flank and actively joins in attacks, demonstrating its signature speed.
Central defenders
1. Georgy Dzhikia (Spartak); 2. Roman Evgeniev (Dynamo); 3. Igor Diveev (CSKA Moscow); 4. Maxim Osipenko (Rostov); 5. Pavel Maslov (Spartak).
The central defender position is traditionally considered to be in short supply in Russia.
Currently, the best footballer in this role in the country is Georgy Dzhikia.
The pupil of Lokomotiv is irreplaceable both in the national team and in Spartak.
On both teams, he wears the captain's armband.
Next to him and Samuel Zhigot, Pavel Maslov revealed himself, who ousted Ilya Kutepov from the base.
And this is no coincidence: the 20-year-old Tyumen in the current RPL draw is the best in the team in terms of the number of interceptions (2.3), and in terms of the number of tackles (1.6) he is on a par with Gigot and is ahead of Dzhikia.
In addition, Maslov more often than others launches attacks of red and white.
Roman Evgeniev and Igor Diveev, two other central defenders of the youth team, also became irreplaceable footballers in their teams, who had already made their senior national team debut at the end of 2020.
It is difficult to choose the best one, because destroyers complement each other.
A powerful soldier is better at riding.
But Dynamo has an excellent first pass and is more boldly connected to the attacks.
His finest hour was the match with Lokomotiv, where Evgeniev scored his debut goal for the blue and white players and gave an assist.
At the moment, it is difficult not to include Maxim Osipenko in the top five central defenders of the country, who back in 2019 played for the Voronezh "Torch" in the FNL.
The injury of Dmitry Chistyakov helped to play in Rostov.
The newcomer took advantage of the chance and no longer dropped out of the base.
He has practically no weak points: with a height of more than 190 cm, Maxim not only leads a great horse wrestling (sixth place in the RPL), but is also practically impassable at the bottom.
In the summer, the sports media even reported about Zenit's interest in Osipenko, but in the end Chistyakov went to St. Petersburg.
Right backs
1. Mario Fernandez (CSKA Moscow); 2. Vyacheslav Karavaev (Zenit); 3. Sergey Petrov (Krasnodar); 4. Dmitry Zhivoglyadov (Lokomotiv); 5. Igor Smolnikov (Krasnodar).
The best right-back of Russia is still naturalized Brazilian Mario Fernandez.
The footballer has no equivalent replacement both in CSKA and in the national team.
However, in September he turned 30.
In the near future, Vyacheslav Karavaev, who is five years younger, may replace Fernandez in the national team.
In the early 2010s, the student of the club academy left CSKA because he did not want to sit on the bench.
The Muscovite chose the European vector of development, played in the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, and then returned to Russia - to Zenit.
In the current season, Karavaev does not look weaker than Fernandez, and in some components he acts even better, for example, in the selection (2.2 on average per game in the RPL and 1.3 in the Champions League).
The naturalized Brazilian has 1.8 in the RPL and 0.5 in the Europa League.
The rest of the right-backs with Russian passports show themselves less brightly.
So, experienced Sergei Petrov was injured in the October Champions League match with Chelsea and did not enter the field until the end of the year.
Igor Smolnikov replaced him in Krasnodar.
A native of Kamensk-Uralsk stands out for his work ability and manages not only to close the profile zone in defense, but also to join the attacks.
For example, in the match against Lokomotiv, he gave two assists.
Dmitry Zhivoglyadov is acting discreetly but reliably.
With the arrival of Marko Nikolic, he regained his place in the starting lineup of the railway workers.
The movement of Vladislav Ignatiev into the midfield line also helped.
The footballer played all the Champions League matches, except for one, "from bell to bell."
And even then, in the game against Salzburg, he was replaced in the 84th minute.
Defensive midfielders
1. Dmitry Barinov (Spartak); 2. Yuri Gazinsky (Krasnodar); 3. Daniil Fomin (Dynamo); 4. Nail Umyarov (Spartak); 5. Stanislav Makgeev / Daniil Kulikov (both - Lokomotiv).
It is good news that many young players are represented in the list of the best holding midfielders in Russia, although a few years ago Igor Denisov did not see an alternative in this position.
However, Dmitry Barinov managed to oust him from the main line-up of Loko.
The athlete quickly earned the trust of not only Yuri Semin, but also Cherchesov.
In the second half of the Euro 2020 qualifying cycle, he already regularly appeared on the field from the first minutes in the national team.
Unfortunately, a serious knee injury knocked Barinov out of action for more than six months.
However, the health problems of Dmitry, as well as Grzegorz Krykhovyak, helped young Stanislav Magkeev and Daniil Kulikov to prove themselves in Loko.
It is difficult to determine the best in this bundle.
The first one acts more boldly directly in destruction, and is also able to play a central defender.
The second has a greater workability, combines more actively with partners.
However, even in the Champions League, at the level of rivals such as Atlético and Bayern, both looked worthy and gained invaluable experience.
Yuri Gazinsky also made his debut in the Champions League this season.
In five games out of six of the tournament, he cemented Krasnodar's support zone and did everything for the team to make it to the Europa League playoffs.
At 31, Gazinsky remains the leader of the southerners.
At the same time, he not only corrects the mistakes of his partners, but also starts attacks from the depths.
Daniil Fomin is progressing rapidly.
Last year he moved from Ufa to Dynamo and made the right decision.
The pupil of Krasnodar immediately became the main footballer of the blue and white and this season the RPL scored three goals and gave the same number of assists.
True, with the arrival of Sandro Schwartz, Fomin in some matches turned out to be higher in midfield.
He noted the growth of Daniil and Cherchesov, who released the Dynamo player three times on the field at the end of the year.
In the RT list, the footballer in his position lost only to Barinov and Gazinsky, ahead of Nail Umyarov.
This is due to the fact that the 20-year-old pupil of "Chertanovo" with the return to his home position of Roman Zobnin lost his place at the base of "Spartak".
With the presence of Alex Kral in the team, it is possible that in the near future it will be difficult for the youth midfielder to win a place in the starting lineup.