The Russian Premier League have had a major setback in the attempts to revive the season, asDynamo Moscow have had a defender test positive for the coronavirus. Roman Evgeniev is the latest player to contract the virus and he is one of the two staff members who has tested positive from the club. The other member is the goalkeeping coach.Evgeniev may be a defender, but he has already contributed one assist to the team in his 12 matches. The assist almost helped Dynamo Moscow get something out of the game against FC Sochi, who picked up a 3-2 victory.

Dynamo Moscow were in the sixth place in the table before the Russian Premier League came to a halt because of the coronavirus hiatus. The team has picked up a decent record of eight victories and eight defeats during this period. Zenit St Petersburg remain at the top of the table with 15 wins and they have only suffered losses. There has been a gulf in class between the two teams this season with the Zenit St Petersburg getting a 5-0 victory on aggregate in the last two meetings with Dynamo Moscow. The number of cases in the country has increased tremendously with Russia now sitting in the top three positions after having contracted almost 300,000 cases. However, the death rate remains very low with less than 3000 deaths.
Continue reading “Another Dynamo Moscow player tests positive for coronavirus” →

Zenit St Petersburg have been able to come to an agreement with all the players about a wage cut. Under the terms of the agreement, the players have decided to take a 50% pay cut for the months of April and May. The director-general of the club revealed that such a measure had to be taken in order to prevent the club’s finances from collapsing. The Russian league is certainly not one of the richest in the world, but Zenit do have a substantial wage bill. The players, though, had done extremely well up until now, as Zenit were able to go top of the table after 22 games in the campaign.

However, the rapid spread of coronavirus forced the Russian Premier League to suspend football on March 17. It was initially expected that the suspension would last until April 10. However, Russia has become one of the nations with a fast spread and this is likely to force the season into an indefinite postponement. For the official records, football has been postponed until May 31. The clubs are expected to undergo a severe drop in finances with TV money expected to dry up. Since most of the wages were being taken care of by the TV money, this situation became untenable before players agreed to take the wage cut.
Continue reading “Zenit St Petersburg Announce 50% wage cut due to Coronavirus” →

Real Madrid have always been a star-studded side; From Di Stefano to Puskas, to Zidane to Ronaldo. Here we take a look at the best players to have worn each shirt number from 1 through 11 in the club’s history.

1. Iker Casillas

The former club captain made over 500 appearances for the club, he won 6 league titles among other top honours with the club. He revolutionized goalkeeping. Continue reading “MADRID – BEST PLAYERS TO WEAR EACH SHIRT” →

Zenit Saint-Petersburg striker Artem Dzyuba has revealed that Tottenham Hotspur were in the running to land his signature during the winter transfer window. The Russia international has been with Zenit for the past four-and-a-half seasons but it appears that he was on the radar of Spurs, who were eyeing a new striker with the injury for Harry Kane.

Speaking to a Russian outlet, Dzyuba revealed that he has been in contract discussions with Zenit for a while. The marksman added that he has the dream of playing in England but that was not meant to be after Zenit turned down the advances from Spurs in the recent transfer window, he told: “There has been a conversation about the new contract for a long time.
Continue reading “Artem Dzyuba reveals Tottenham Hotspur’s interest in signing him” →

Russia international Aleksandr Golovin has said that he has comfortably settled at AS Monaco and he is looking forward to putting a strong performance against Paris Saint-Germain this weekend. The Principality outfit have struggled for consistency for the second season on the bounce and they are presently just three points ahead of the drop zone after the opening 14 games.

As a result, they face a stiff challenge against Les Parisiens, who are comfortably at the top of the standings but Golovin is up for the test, he told: “It’s a very important match for us. Of course PSG are a very strong opponent, but we approach this match with the will to win it. We need to win, that’s our goal, we will fight to the end. Today I feel like this is home. I have to help my team to the maximum, to be at my best; we still have all our chances in this season and we will do everything to reach our goal.”
Continue reading “Aleksandr Golovin prepared for Monaco’s clash versus PSG” →

Scotland coach Steve Clarke claimed that it is up to him to find a solution for the poor performances from the national team. Scotland received a major blow to the hopes of Euro 2020 qualification after a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Russia. The team are up against Belgium, who are ranked highest in the world, in the next match. Hence, the prospects of Scotland reaching Euro 2020 through the automatic spots are getting extremely slim. Even though the nation managed to reach the semifinals of the Nations League, their performances have not been great.

Clarke claimed that he was baffled by the inability to take advantage of the early goal from John McGinn. Dzyuba was able to equalise for the visitors just before half-time and own goal from Stephen O’Donnell in the second half was able to put the game in favour of the visitors. Clarke said that he is not sure why his team failed to take the early goal into account and dominate the opposition. After having fallen a large number of points behind Russia, it may be difficult for Scotland to turn around the situation. The team are also in danger of falling behind the likes of Cyprus in the table. Clarke will want to avoid such an embarrassing situation at all costs.
Continue reading “Steve Clarke Baffled with Comeback Defeat against Russia” →

The Champions League group stage matchday two saw Russia outfit Lokomotiv Moscow take on Atletico Madrid in Moscow. The game which was billed to be a tough game for the Spanish side was gritty with several chances for both teams.

The Home team started better with Joao Mario creating a great chance that was spurned by his teammates. Atletico Madrid boss Simeone used an offensive lineup that contained Diego Costa, Morata and Joao Felix.

The Trio caused Lokomotiv problems with Diego Costa spurning the bet chance of the half when faced with an empty net. The former Chelsea forward blazed over the bar when it seemed easier to score.
Continue reading “ATLETICO MADRID DEFEAT LOKOMOTIV MOSCOW” →

Former Russia international and Arsenal star Andrey Arshavin fancies the Gunners to make the top four of the Premier League this season. The north London outfit were in a good position to make the Champions League places last term but a poor end to the league season combined with the Europa League final defeat saw them miss out on the elite competition.

They have started the current campaign on a positive note with two wins from the opening three games and Arshavin believes the club can compete for the top four without having much of a say on the Premier League title race, he told TalkSPORT: “It’s difficult to replace a guy (Arsene Wenger) who managed the team for more than 20 years. Unai Emery is not in a good position I would say. But I would say the first year was not bad. He is building the team and he needs time. I hope he does well. I think the realistic target is to be in the top four because Manchester City and Liverpool are very strong. They are contenders for the title.”
Continue reading “Andrey Arshavin fancies Arsenal to make the top four this season” →

Everton manager Marco Silva has said that the club have yet to decide whether Nikola Vlasic would be integrated into the club’s plans for the forthcoming campaign. The Croatia international is currently on a season-long loan with CSKA Moscow where he has impressed with eight goals and seven assists across all competitions.

Speaking to SportKlub, Silva revealed that the Toffees wanted Vlasic to have as much first-team experience as possible and that was the prime reason behind the loan move. He added that the club are watching the proceedings of the 21-year-old and will make the right decision regarding the attacker’s future.
Continue reading “Everton boss speaks on the future of CSKA Moscow attacker” →

When it comes to naming the top players in a club with the stature of Manchester City it is easy to mention the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva, Aguero and Fernandinho. However, one player that has stood out this season is Oleksandr Zinchenko.

The Ukraine international has been impressive when called upon by Guardiola and has put in some good displays at the left-back position.  The 22-year-old was signed in 2016 from Russian side FC Ufa for a transfer fee of £1.7million.
Continue reading “ZINCHENKO AN UNDERRATED STAR IN MANCHESTER CITY” →