Within European football, Russia is considered an emerging competition that is second in line in the leagues of the Old Continent. A football as distant as it is peculiar that was also affected by the war conflict with Ukraine, because UEFA sided with the government of Volodímir Zelenski and decided to exonerate the Russian teams from all continental competition (Champions, Europa League and Conference), as well as to the national team.
In this context, and despite the restrictions generated by not being in the cups, the Chilean legion in the Russian Premier League has had interesting growth. So much so that today is the UEFA First Division tournament with the largest representation of Chileans: five players. This weekend, the competition resumed after a long winter break (it had not been played since December 10). The rookies had their respective official premieres, which also implies the first season of their careers abroad.
On Saturday, Jordhy Thompson had his reunion with the activity, after suddenly leaving the scene due to off-sports situations that led him to the wall. Specifically, a complaint of gender violence by his ex-partner, a matter that ended up removing him from circulation for the consideration of Colo Colo, where the 2023 season started favorably. In that sense, the Orenburg offer came as an option to reintegrate into football and very far from the country, for that matter.
Wearing number 16, the white youth player started in the 1-1 draw with CSKA Moscow, a match in which he played 68 minutes, mainly playing on the right side of the attack. It was Thompson’s first official game in five months. He had not played for points since October of last year, in Cacique’s 1-0 defeat with Palestino, in La Cisterna, for the First Division tournament. After the debut, Thompson expressed himself briefly in Instagram: “Happy to compete again, let’s go all out.”
On Sunday it was Ignacio Saavedra’s turn. The midfielder left Universidad Católica in search of restarting his path in football, having in mind to make the definitive leap abroad. He signed for Sochi, in need of points because his fight is to avoid relegation. Today he is the bottom of the Russian league. ‘Nacho’ officially debuted in his new team, starting in the goalless draw with Baltika, as a visitor. SofaScore data shows that he had 59 touches, won two of seven duels and recorded 82% of successful passes.
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Saavedra was active again after almost three months. His last appearance had been last December, in the 3-0 victory over Unión La Calera, at the close of the 2023 National Championship.
In addition to Thompson and Saavedra, the remaining three are players who were already in the league: Víctor Felipe Méndez and Víctor Dávila, both at CSKA, plus Ángelo Henríquez, at Baltika. In the first part of the season, the forward had Guillermo Soto as a teammate, who returned to the country signing at UC.
In the ranking of European leagues with the most Creole representation, after Russia and the five nationals present, there are four Primera championships with two Chileans. These are the French Ligue 1 (Guillermo Maripán, in Monaco, and Gabriel Suazo, in Toulouse), the English Premier League (Ben Brereton, in Sheffield United, and Lawrence Vigouroux, in Burnley), the Danish Super League (Miiko Albornoz, in Vejle, and Darío Osorio, in Midtjylland) and the Greek Super League (Diego Valencia, in Atromitos, and Luis Felipe Gallegos, in the OFI of Crete).
In other divisions, the English Championship is approaching a presence in the Russian league. The British second division has Marcelino Núñez (Norwich), Francisco Sierralta (Watford) and Juan Delgado (Sheffield Wednesday). Added to this is goalkeeper Vicente Reyes, whose pass is from Norwich and is temporarily on loan to Forest Green Rovers in League Two, the fourth division.
2024-03-04 22:29:08
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