Goalkeeper and captain of CSKA Moscow, Igor Akinfeev, formed the symbolic team of the army club during his time in the team. His words guide the way “Championship.com”.
“We won’t go anywhere here without Rakhimich. Our main bone crusher. Wernbloom matches it. I always dreamed that they would play together. Then not a single shot would be fired at my target. “Akinfeev – Berezutsky, Ignashevich, Berezutsky – Gusev, Wernbloom, Carvalho, Rakhimich, Zhirkov – Doumbia, Wagner,” said the goalkeeper.
Akinfeev made his debut at the adult level on March 29, 2003 for CSKA in the 1/8 final of the RFPL Cup in Petrovsky against St. Petersburg. He played against St. Petersburg Zenit, replacing Dmitry Kramarenko in the second half. The goalkeeper made his debut in the Russian Championship on 31 March 2003 in the match against Krylya Sovetov and saved the penalty in the last minutes of the game.
With CSKA, Akinfeev became the Russian champion six times, won the national cup seven times and won the UEFA Cup in the 2004/05 season. As a member of the Russian national team, he won a bronze medal at the 2008 European Championships held in Austria and Switzerland. In 2018, Akinfeev reached the quarter-finals of his home world championship with the Russian national team.
Previously Akinfeev appreciated Valery Karpin’s advice to Russian players to go to Europe.