The Rubin Post
Squad26 Jul 2027
Alexey Gritsaenko damages knee ligaments — 89 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 89 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Daniil Motorin breaks a bone — 16 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market26 Jul 2027
Artur Nigmatullin puts it in writing
“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 The request is on a desk at Rubin, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Igor Vujačić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rubin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Jul 2027
Rubin find a way past Baltika
Baltika made Rubin work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Rubin lose Viktor Chekhov
25 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Ruslan Bezrukov was unplayable
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Rubin pick somebody else ahead of Alexandr Zotov
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ivan Nesterov kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
- The dugout Alexandr Zotov knocks on the manager's door
- The dugout No hiding place for Artur Nigmatullin
- Market The Dardan Shabanhaxhaj question follows Rubin around