The key facts

  • Glushenkov and Sobolev were not called up to the Russia national team for the November matches
  • Bulyakin links this to the players' discomfort, not to Zenit's interests
  • Both footballers are the RPL's top scorers with ten goals each; Zenit leads with 31 points after 14 rounds

Comment on the non-call-up of Zenit's leaders

Former striker of Lokomotiv, Dynamo and the Russia national team Dmitry Bulyakin, in a comment for Gazeta.Ru, spoke about the non-call-up of Zenit's leaders Maxim Glushenkov and Alexander Sobolev to the national team for the November matches. He rejected the suggestion that the decision was made to help the club in the domestic championship.

“The national team is the highest level”

“Hardly anyone here thinks about such nuances as skipping the national team camp or how best to play for your club side. If you have some minor discomfort, you need to treat it. I think that's what this is about, because the national team is the highest level, and all footballers want to get into it and do everything possible to play for it. So most likely some nuances played a role here, not a desire to give Zenit an advantage after the international break. Zenit has its own international players who have traveled far away to play for their national teams,” Bulyakin emphasized.

Standings context

Zenit tops the RPL table after 14 rounds with 31 points, while Glushenkov and Sobolev share first place in the scoring charts with ten goals each. Their closest pursuers, Konstantin Tyukavin of Dynamo Moscow and Ivan Oblyakov of CSKA, have seven goals apiece. Thus, the non-call-up of the league's two top marksmen affects a team that keeps the lead even without them; the exact reasons for the players' absence from the squad are not disclosed in the publication — Bulyakin merely suggests it is a matter of health.