Three FC Krasnodar players capped for their national teams in games that were held in Europe and Africa on 14 November. All of the black-greens led their teams as captains.
Striker Fyodor Smolov had an outstanding game against one of the biggest national teams in the world, Spain. The centre-forward marked himself with a brace in a friendly match in Saint Petersburg, and he also took a most active part in another scoring attack of his team. Fyodor scored the first goal on the 41st minute when the score was 2-0 with Spain in the lead. The Krasnodar striker beat two opponents at once with a spectacular feint and took an unsavable shot into the bottom corner. Smolov scored his second goal after the half-time on the 70th minute when he fired a screamer from the 18-yard line that missed tearing the net behind the Spanish keeper David de Gea just barely. This goal made the score final. 3-3 as a result.
The Russia national team was robbed of an opportunity to celebrate a win in this scrimmage by the Italian referee who ordered for two questionable penalty kicks to be taken. Both of them were successfully executed by Sergio Ramos. Another goal for La Furia Roja was scored by Jordi Alba, while Aleksei Miranchuk was the third one to score for the Russian squad led by Stanislav Cherchesov
Midfielder Ilya Zhigulyov captained the Russia national U-21 team who met the Italian players of the same age in an away friendly game that was held in a town of Frosinone. The home team won this game 3-2. The Krasnodar player provided an assist to Nikolai Rasskazov in the very end of the first half making the score equal 1-1. Ilya was substituted on the 67th minute when the score was still the same. Soon afterwards Zelimkhan Bakayev brought the Russian squad forward, but the Italians managed both scoring an equalizer and snatching the win away with their third goal on the 4th minute of the additional time.
The Burkina Faso national team and their defensive midfielder Charles Kaboré smashed Cape Verde 4-0 in the final game of the African 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification tournament. Kaboré marked himself with an assist in this game. Unfortunately for Les Étalons, this success did not allow them to qualify for the World Cup finals since they finished only second in their Group D. The Senegal national team had become the first one there ahead of schedule, so they will be the ones to travel to Russia next summer.
Photo by championat.com