The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lokomotiv Moscow people have started saying his name in the past tense.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lokomotiv Moscow lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Lokomotiv Moscow are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Matvey Bardachev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad25 Aug 2036
Ruslan Bart falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Moscow have kept their man, and Lokomotiv Moscow go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikita Vasiljev. 2‑0 against Krylya Sovetov, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
56 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lokomotiv Moscow lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lokomotiv Moscow can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Krylya Sovetov waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lokomotiv Moscow is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lokomotiv Moscow is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Matvey Bardachev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadArtem Korneev arrives at the club he grew up with
77 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lokomotiv Moscow lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lokomotiv Moscow can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and SKA Khabarovsk waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lokomotiv Moscow is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have shaken hands with Akron; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The chase for Elio Gjoshi ended with $310.0K changing hands and Akron out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Elio Gjoshi is living that version at Lokomotiv Moscow, and it tends to show in the first month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Milan Majstorović has just signed for Dinamo Moscow, and for once the answer mattered.
The offer from Beroe for Ebroni Gnoan was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $341.3K — a club that wants Miro enough to be asked twice.
Milan Majstorović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The shirt still fits. Milan Majstorović is back at Dinamo Moscow, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Krasnodar have kept their man, and Dinamo Moscow go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 98 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Lokomotiv Moscow and Krasnodar have settled on $660.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $2.7M has been paid because Matvey Bardachev is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Lokomotiv Moscow, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Vitaly Bondarev has, at Lokomotiv Moscow, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $720.0K — a club that wants Eldar Guseinov enough to be asked twice.
Ruslan Litvinov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dinamo Moscow 2 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Rodrigo Bentancur was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” German Ushakov has his answer from Dinamo Moscow 2; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
105 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lokomotiv Moscow lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
$2.7M on the table at Dinamo Moscow. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Add another name to the list: Orenburg have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dmitri Rybakov. The answer from Lokomotiv Moscow has not changed — yet.
$520.0K on the table at Krasnodar. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer went to Akron this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Ruslan Bart and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
$110.0K on the table at Arsenal Tula. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Kudryavtsev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Moscow 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Moscow 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Alexandr Koryakin may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dinamo Moscow 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dinamo Moscow 2 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Nil Shapovalov’s negotiating for him
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Moscow 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Dinamo Moscow 2 had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
33 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Dinamo Moscow 2 now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Moscow 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nil Shapovalov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Dinamo Moscow 2 that is a harder question to answer.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Moscow 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rodrigo Bentancur and Dinamo Moscow 2 agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The quietest bad news in football. At 22 nothing has moved for months — not backwards, which would at least be a conversation, simply nowhere. Somebody at the club will have to decide whether that is the club's fault or his.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matvey Bardachev signs something — a contract at Dinamo Moscow 2 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
53 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dinamo Moscow 2 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Moscow 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Beaten 4 times, 5 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matvey Bardachev signs something — a contract at Dinamo Moscow 2 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
55 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dinamo Moscow 2 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Dinamo Moscow 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Matvey Bardachev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Shifted about, taken off before the hour, asked to do somebody else's running — Rodrigo Bentancur has had enough of being useful and would like to be picked. Dinamo Moscow 2 know, and have known for weeks.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
62 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dinamo Moscow 2 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Moscow 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Dinamo Moscow 2 will be judged on one thing only.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Daniil Golikov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Dinamo Moscow 2 needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniil Golikov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Dinamo Moscow 2 squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dinamo Moscow 2 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniil Golikov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Moscow 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Rodrigo Bentancur and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Anatoly Zabolotsky has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A 2‑0 win over Torpedo Moscow, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings10 Mar 2036
Yegor Sysoev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.53. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Fakel in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
104 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dinamo Moscow 2 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Moscow 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Matvey Bardachev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Dinamo Moscow 2 than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Chernomorets will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Dinamo Moscow 2 were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The offer from Rostov for Matúš Holíček was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Matúš Holíček and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Moscow 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Rodrigo Bentancur was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Dinamo Moscow 2 squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Moscow 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.94, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Dinamo Moscow 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Krasnodar.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Moscow 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The terraces24 Dec 2035
The stands have turned
“Enough is enough. We have watched this for months.” 3 of the 15 senior players walked off to it, and the message was not aimed at any one of them.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
Chances created: 7. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Moscow 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Matvey Bardachev scored, was marked 7.70, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Dinamo Moscow 2 and Akron 2, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Moscow 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Matvey Bardachev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Dinamo Moscow 2 was different afterwards.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Dinamo Moscow 2 than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Fakel next, and one man in the Dinamo Moscow 2 dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nil Shapovalov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Moscow 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Marked 7.30 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Marco Moreno’s negotiating for him
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Moscow 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Matvey Bardachev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matúš Holíček trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Maxim Shichanin’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Dinamo Moscow 2 needing him to play as if none of it matters.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Dinamo Moscow 2 could ask drops and the wages Aleksandar Jukić can ask rise.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Dinamo Moscow 2 would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Two goals and a mark of 8.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Moscow 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Moscow 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings1 Oct 2035
Matúš Holíček was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.50. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Sokol spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Matvey Bardachev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Dinamo Moscow 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Moscow 2 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Krasnodar; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Moscow 2 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Moscow 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Spartak Nalchik have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nil Shapovalov. The answer from Dinamo Moscow 2 has not changed — yet.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.53 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Arsenal Tula waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Moscow 2 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Two goals and a mark of 8.68 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Viktor Sokolov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Moscow 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Matvey Bardachev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Daniil Golikov has his answer from Dinamo Moscow 2; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Dinamo Moscow 2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
In brief
SquadNil Shapovalov, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
The offer from Krasnodar for Ruslan Litvinov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Dinamo Moscow 2 and Akron 2, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Beaten 4 times, with 1 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Moscow 2 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Moscow 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Dinamo Moscow 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Matvey Bardachev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Zarya Lugansk in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Dinamo Moscow 2 could ask drops and the wages Viktor Sokolov can ask rise.
Matvey Bardachev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Moscow 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Moscow 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Dinamo Moscow 2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
In brief
The dugoutVitaly Shitov asks for a word with the manager
MarketThe clock does Vitaly Shitov’s negotiating for him
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vitaly Shitov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Moscow 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A 2‑0 win over Torpedo Moscow, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Matvey Bardachev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Dinamo Moscow 2 needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Viktor Sokolov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
42 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Dinamo Kirov had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Vitaly Shitov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad5 Mar 2035
A place in the month's best eleven for Gonzalo Sosa
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Gonzalo Sosa has come out of that comparison in the side, and Dinamo Moscow 2 have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Arsenal Tula defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
41 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
12 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikolay Ischenko provided it, and the 9.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The name of Vitaly Shitov has come up in conversations Dinamo Moscow 2 were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Dinamo Moscow 2 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikolay Ischenko. 2‑1 against Shinnik, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
40 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Add another name to the list: SKA Khabarovsk have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nikolay Ischenko. The answer from Dinamo Moscow 2 has not changed — yet.
Matvey Bardachev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
38 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
58 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
The offer from Podbrezova for Kazbek Mukailov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikolay Ischenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Moscow 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dinamo Moscow 2 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kazbek Mukailov provided it, and the 9.06 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Moscow 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Dinamo Moscow 2 had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dinamo Moscow 2 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ulvi Babaev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Moscow 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
A 1‑0 win over Chaika, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings25 Dec 2034
Gonzalo Sosa was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ivan Pyatkin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivan Pyatkin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Moscow 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Dinamo Moscow 2 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Matvey Bardachev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 8.36. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Dinamo Moscow 2.
Player ratings18 Dec 2034
Kazbek Mukailov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
The dugoutIvan Pyatkin knocks on the manager’s door
MarketThe clock does Ivan Pyatkin’s negotiating for him
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikolay Ischenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Moscow 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
46 points, a place near the top and a ground that has begun to enjoy itself. Nobody will say the word out loud, which is the surest indication that everybody is thinking it.
8.04. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Moscow 2 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Moscow 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Moscow 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.50 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Moscow 2 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 2, 36 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Marked 6.85 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Marked 6.87 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Moscow 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Matvey Bardachev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
33 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Moscow 2 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivan Pyatkin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Moscow 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
1 for Matvey Bardachev, marked 7.91, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ivan Pyatkin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Dinamo Moscow 2 have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ulvi Babaev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Dinamo Moscow 2 needing him to play as if none of it matters.