The Aris striker calmly converted the penalty in Prague.
Alexander Kokorin has not scored in European competition for almost five years. He scored his previous goal for Zenit against Slavia Prague (1:0) in October 2018, and four days later he suffered a fatal blow with a chair in one of the Moscow cafes.
On Thursday, the Russian forward, playing for the Cypriot Aris, upset another Czech team, Sparta.
Kokorin’s goal gave hope for a sensation
Alexander had a great time last season in Cyprus: he became the national champion and was recognized as the best player in the league. The striker, already written off by everyone, found a second youth on a sunny island, revived his career and was aiming to get a real chance at Fiorentina.
Alas, the Italian club did not count too much on the 32-year-old player. Although he went through the entire pre-season training with the team, he even appeared in the Conference League qualifying game. The club behaved as strangely as possible in this situation: the management kept the player in uncertainty for a long time, while rejecting offers from other teams until the last moment.
At the end of the transfer window, Aris took advantage of the situation and again hosted Kokorin. It was an excellent deal for the Cypriot club: for 250 thousand euros they managed to bring back the best player of their team from last season, with whom they could sign a contract as a free agent next summer.
— “Aris” is a nice and understandable project for me. Even after the championship, we strengthened three or four positions, because we have ambitions to compete in European competition and have a full stadium. Of course, I really want to play in the Europa League, to compete with top clubs,” Alexander noted in an interview with the Championship.
In the summer without Kokorin, Aris already managed to make some noise in the European Cup qualification. It all started with qualifying for the Champions League, where the Cypriots beat BATE in spectacular style (6:2 and 5:3), but then stumbled against the best team in Poland, Raków. The team of Belarusian coach Alexei Shpilevsky showed attacking football in the decisive round for reaching the Europa League group: after an away defeat to Slovan at home, they destroyed the opponent with a score of 6:2.
The Russian striker played his first match after returning to Cyprus last Sunday against Paphos. Then Sasha failed to score, but in the game against Sparta he scored in the 11th minute. The hosts’ captain, Ladislav Krejci, kicked Aris defender Brorsson in the face, and Kokorin confidently converted the penalty, sending the ball and goalkeeper into different angles.
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The Russian was a regular penalty taker last season as well: he scored five attempts with two misses. Kokorin’s goal gave his team hope for a sensation, but in the end did not even bring a draw. Even before the break, the same Krejci scored a double, and in the second half the teams exchanged goals. Alexander left the field in the 75th minute, and shortly before that he received a yellow card for disrupting the opponent’s attack.
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For Kokorin, the goal against Sparta was already the 21st in 44 European Cup matches – an excellent statistic for any striker.
Kokorin is being demanded to be returned to the Russian national team
Kokorin’s goal evoked a lively response from fans, who reacted emotionally to this event on social networks.
“Hahahaha, give him the Golden Ball,” wrote user Aldan in the comments of the Match TV Telegram channel.
“GOAT,” Timur succinctly summarized (GOAT is an English abbreviation that means “greatest of all time”).
— In honor of returning to European competition, I’m renting a restaurant and smashing all the chairs there! — Vadim Ozerov did not miss the opportunity to be sarcastic.
– Well done guy. He confidently and calmly realizes himself, even in a weak league, but regularly gets into the lineup and reciprocates the feelings of the coach, team and fans. Kokorin is cool. There’s nothing more to add,” Seryozha Rode noted in the comments to the news about the goal on the Match TV page on VKontakte.
— I have a question, why isn’t he called up to the Russian national team because of his dark past? – asked Maxim Berilov.
Kokorin will try to top up his goal tally in European competition in a couple of weeks: on October 5, Aris will host Rangers. It is curious that Alexander scored his first European Cup goal against another Scottish giant, Celtic, back in 2009, while still an 18-year-old striker for Dynamo Moscow.
