FC Krasnodar striker Fyodor Smolov became the top scorer of the ROSGOSSTRAKH Russian Football Championship 2015/16 with his 20 scored goals. In this article we will try to make a breakdown of his goal-scoring triumph.
Fyodor Mikhaylovich Smolov moved to FC Krasnodar as a free agent in summer 2015. He made 44 appearances for the Bulls this season scoring 24 goals. Fyodor scored one goal in three games of the Russian Cup; he did so three times in 12 fixtures of the UEFA Europa League (with two goals resulting from PKs), and finally in the 29 official matches of the Russian Football Championship he marked himself with 20 scored goals, so here is the relevant breakthrough of these scoring deeds.
In average Smolov scored one goal per 1.45 matches making that a goal per 131.4 minutes if one considers the playing time. The No. 90 striker achieved a double brace, a hat-trick, two braces and 9 single goals scored. Six goals were scored in 18 matches of 2015 and 14 goals in 12 matches of 2016. Here is the breakdown for the goals scored per months:
August 2015 – 2
November 2015 – 3
December 2015 – 1
March 2016 – 1
April 2016 – 7
May 2016 – 6
Smolov scored against 11 teams in the Russian Football Championship 2015/16:
FC Krylia Sovetov Samara – 4
FC Ural Yekaterinburg – 4
FC Kuban Krasnodar – 2
PFC CSKA Moscow – 2
FC Anzhi Makhachkala – 2
FC Lokomotiv Moscow – 1
FC Mordovia Saransk – 1
FC Dynamo Moscow – 1
FC Terek Grozny – 1
FC Ufa – 1
FC Rubin Kazan – 1
Smolov scored 9 goals in the first half and 11 goals in the second half. If one breaks the whole game in 15-minute segments, then in both of the intervals within the minutes 16 to 30 and 61 to 75, i.e. in the middle of either halves, he scored 5 goals. He also scored four times in the end of the first half (minutes 31 to 45) and in the beginning of the second half (minutes 46 to 60) also scoring 2 goals in the final 15 minutes of the game and a goal during the first 15-minute interval. Minutes 18th and 61st became the most successful for the striker, as he scored two goals on either of these. Smolov was able to score only a single goal in the injury time, and that was added to the 45 minutes of the first half.
Fyodor scored 14 goals with his right foot, 4 goals with his left foot and 2 goals with his head; 18 goals were scored from within the box (with three of those scored from the goal area), and two times Fyodor scored from outside the box. Smolov scored 18 goals from open play and 2 goals with a header meeting the balls served from free kicks.
Pavel Mamayev was the one who made the most assists to Smolov (9 times); Yuri Gazinskiy did so three times and Joãozinho twice. Ari, Ragnar Sigurðsson, Odil Ahmedov, Mauricio Pereyra, Vitali Kaleshin and Francisco Wánderson helped Fyodor one time each.
Goals scored by Smolov brought FC Krasnodar 7 wins and 2 ties with only one of the goals scored in a lost game. In seven official matches of the black-greens it was only the No. 90 who scored against the opposite team.
And finally, a few words about the records and achievements Fyodor has made in the recently ended season.
- 24 goals is the Club record for the number of goals scored in the official matches during a single season.
- 35 points (24 + 11) is the Club record as per the “goal and pass” system during a single season.
- 20 goals is the Club record for the number of goals scored in a single Russian Football Championship (for all leagues).
- 27 points (20 + 7) is the Club record as per the “goal and pass” system during a single season (for all leagues).
- 13 goals in 7 consecutive matches was the scoring streak never seen before in Russia’s history of national championships. In 2009 the FC Rubin Kazan attacking midfielder, Alejandro Domiguez from Argentina and in 1999 FC Alania Vladikavkaz striker, Georgi Demetradze from Georgia both scored goals in 8 consequitive matches, but the former scored only 10 goals and the latter 12 goals during their streaks.
- 4 goals against FC Ural Yekaterinburg! Never before had a player of FC Krasnodar scored that many goals in a single match. Smolov achieved the only double brace in the recently ended national championship and the first one in the Russian Football Premier League for the last 8 year. Fyodor became only the 10th player able to score 4 goals in a single match of the Russian top league and the first Russian-born player who made it in the last 15 years.
Fyodor Smolov became the first Russian player since 2007 winning the national championship’s top scorer title, and he is also the second player in FC Krasnodar history making this achievement. Previously during the Season 2012/13 Francisco Wánderson from Brazil was able to achieve the same after scoring 13 goals.