A super match is planned in France. On Friday, November 24, championship leader PSG will play Monaco, who recently took first place. However, this did not last long. Now the Monegasques are third. It is not surprising. When in three games you add four points (this is the result of the last rounds), it is difficult to keep up with the champion.
However, all is not lost. Monaco is three points behind PSG. Therefore, in case of victory, Adi Hütter’s team will emerge victorious. It is true that the numbers do not favor the Monegasques: the last time they won on the opposite field was in 2016.
But how good Alexander Golovin is in the confrontations with PSG! On Monday he played a match with Cuba in Volgograd (8-0), but quickly returned to France. Nothing should interfere with his participation in the game. The most likely thing is that he will appear in the starting eleven of his tenth meeting with the Parisians. In addition, his statistics in matches with the Parisians are excellent: 2 + 1 in nine matches. His last effective action to date was in February, when Monaco finished off an opponent exhausted by injuries and viruses. And in general, he buried Galtier’s perspectives in Paris. That day, a post in the spirit of “how PSG misses a footballer like Golovin” went partially viral on social media. But, apparently, the club did not pay much attention to him and no attempts were made to acquire Alexander in the summer. So now the Russian will have a new opportunity to improve his statistics.
How Monaco beat PSG in February
“Golovin is torturing us.” The Russian’s goal helped Monaco destroy the PSG star
However, Golovin is far from the first Russian to play for PSG in the French Championship. Let us remember all those who came before him.
Alexander Mostovoy, Caen, Strasbourg (4 matches, 360 minutes)
1 win – 3 losses
Alexander Mostovoy in Strasbourg
Photo: From the personal archive of Alexander Mostovoy.
During two and a half years in France, Mostovoy played four times for PSG. And even he is surprised that he managed to win at least once. The tsar first met Parisians during a brief period in Caen. There the outsider was defeated without a chance: the defeat was 0:2. Yes, they failed to score points with the future champions, but Caen maintained their place in the elite that season. Mostovoy then played for the more prestigious Strasbourg, but only once did they manage to win with a Russian in the lineup. However, once again, nothing surprising: PSG remained the leader in the following years, while Strasbourg fought for places in the middle of the table.
Ruslan Pimenov, Metz (1 match, 50 minutes)
1 victory
Ruslan Pimenov in Metz
Photo: fcmetz.com
In the winter of 2005, Ruslan Pimenov left Loko for a six-month loan to French side Metz. He played only three games, but one of them was for PSG, for which Sergei Semak was playing at the time. So it turned out to be a kind of Russian derby, considering that the players’ former clubs were Loko and CSKA.
At that time, PSG temporarily lost the top club status and floated in the middle of the table. But Metz fought to survive. They simply needed the victory at that moment. In the 50th minute the score was already 2:0 in favor of the outsiders. Pimenov did not show any effective actions, but still received very high marks. He did not play the entire match and, after his substitution, Metz almost lost the victory: the match ended with a score of 3-2.
Alexander Panov, Saint-Etienne (1 game, 60 minutes)
1 defeat
Alexander Panov
Photo: Alexander Safonov, “Championship”
In the summer of 2000, Saint-Etienne paid Zenit $5 million for Panov, a huge sum at the time. This is the price of the double against the French team. True, the player quickly became disappointed. First of all, he is associated with injuries and illnesses. For example, after signing a contract, a Russian was diagnosed with chronic sinusitis.
However, he played one game with PSG: in September 2000, he entered the field with the first team on the day Paris scored five goals against their rival. Panov was substituted in the 60th minute, but this did not help either. Soon Alexander was loaned out. He never had a French career.
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Alexey Smertin, Bordeaux (6 games, 524 minutes)
3 wins – 2 draws – 1 loss
Alexey Smertin in Bordeaux
Photo: Adam Davy/Getty Images
Bordeaux took Smertin from Russia based on roughly the same logic as Saint-Etienne. After all, Alexey played for the national team in that same match against France. But this transition was definitely justified. In three seasons with the team, Smertin became a leader, increased its value and helped the team win the League Cup. As a result, Bordeaux sold him to Chelsea for almost double.
No wonder Smertin’s team played so well against PSG during that period. After all, even in the table he often turned out to be higher. Alexey played six matches against the Parisians in the Championship. Half winning is great, right?
Dmitry Sychev, Marseille (4 games, 120 minutes)
4 defeats
Dmitri Sychev
Photo: Alexander Safonov, “Championship”
Although Dmitry played 33 matches in France over the course of a year, everyone understood that he had lost the competition to Didier Drogba. Therefore, he started very few games in the starting eleven. But he played four games for PSG. Everything: defeats, the overall score is 2:8. A year later, Sychev returned to Russia and acknowledged that the experience of inviting a Russian had not been successful. Dmitry never reached the higher leagues again.
Dmitry Ananko, Ajaccio (1 match, 90 minutes)
1 tie
Dmitry Ananko in Ajaccio
Photo: From the personal archive of Dmitry Ananko.
Ananko left for France at the end of his career and hardly Ajaccio was finally satisfied with the footballer’s invitation. There are only 18 games per season. The team lost eight of them. But not PSG: the Corsicans tied with the Parisians. Ananko participated in that match. A year later, Dmitry returned to Russia and soon put an end to his career.
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