Valery Novikov, former goalkeeper of CSKA and the USSR national team, spoke about the end of the career of Alan Dzagoev, former midfielder of the red-blue and the Russian national team. In an interview with socialbites.ca, the expert expressed the opinion that the reason for the 33-year-old football player’s retirement from football was a large number of injuries.
“The guy is undoubtedly talented, but he was tormented by injuries. As soon as he recovers, the damage appears again. I think he had accumulated so many injuries there that he decided to finish, because they do not allow him to play at a high level,” Novikov thinks.
Dzagoev played for CSKA from 2008 to 2022. With the club he became champion three times and won the Russian Cup and Super Cup four times. He spent the 2022/23 season at Rubin Kazan, which he left in the summer of 2023.
In total, he played 435 matches at club level, scoring 89 goals and providing 95 assists. As part of the Russian national team, Dzagoev played 59 matches, in which he scored nine goals. The midfielder participated in the 2012 European Championship and the 2014 and 2018 World Championships as part of the national team. Dzagoev’s last club was the Greek Lamia.
Former goalkeeper of Lokomotiv explained Dzagoev’s decision to end his career.