Former goalkeeper of the Russian national team, goalkeeper and captain of CSKA Moscow, Igor Akinfeev, admitted that he was not afraid of the fire that broke out on his neck in the qualifying match for the 2016 European Championship, but he recalled another similar incident. His words guide the way “Championship.com”.
“The games we played with the youth team in Denmark were very scary. This is the game where we were all sent off and then we lost. They threw a billiard ball at me from the stands. It flew a few centimeters away from his head. If he had hit it, I think that would have been it,” said Akinfeev.
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.