OneFootball
Padraig Whelan·20 June 2020
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Padraig Whelan·20 June 2020
The Russian Premier League returned this week and it is undoubtedly back with an absolute bang.
Rostov and Sochi started things off on Friday night but things didn’t quite to to plan for the side who are in fourth and chasing Champions League football.
Six Rostov players have tested positive for coronavirus, meaning that the entire first team and coaching staff had to be quarantined.
That resulted in the club making the trip with a side made up entirely of youth team players.
And they got off to the perfect start too – taking the lead inside the opening minute. But it seems that only angered Sochi.
They duly responded by scoring 10 without reply, with former international striker Aleksandr Kokorin helping himself to a hat-trick.
However, it wasn’t all bad news for the visitors as their 17-year-old goalkeeper Denis Popov earned man of the match honours.
Yes, really. And he deserved it too. The youngster saved a penalty, having had over 25 shots on target alone to deal with and 40 on his goal over the course of the game.
Those 15 saves also saw Popov set a new Russian Premier League record for the most saves ever made in a game.
A bittersweet outing if ever there was one!