Injury during parade or celebration?
©IMAGO
With four saves in the penalty shootout of the Intercontinental Cup, goalkeeper Matvey Safonov amazed those in charge at PSG on Wednesday – again a few days later; On Friday, the Parisians announced an injury to the 26-year-old Russian, but no one knows how it happened. At some point during the triumph against Flamengo, the capital club’s substitute keeper must have broken his hand. Not even a professional can explain when.
“I can’t explain it, it’s unbelievable,” said PSG coach Luis Enrique. “The player himself doesn’t know how it happened.” The coach assumes that Safonov was injured in the penalty shootout and continued playing with the break. But it is also possible that it happened during the subsequent celebration in the crowd of players.
Champions League winners PSG will miss Safonov for quite a while now. The club said the goalkeeper’s status should be medically assessed again in three to four weeks. The impression that Safonov made in the game against Flamengo will remain. After a 1-1 draw in regular time, the Russian national goalkeeper was able to save all of his opponent’s penalty kicks in the final in Al-Rajjan (Qatar) on Wednesday. In the fight for number 1 at PSG, he was at least able to make people sit up and take notice. Coach Luis Enrique emphasized that Safonov “showed not only his professionalism, but also his personality.”
Last year, the Parisians paid a transfer fee of 20 million euros to get Safonov away from FK Krasnodar. After competitor and regular Lucas Chevalier, he is the second most expensive goalkeeper in PSG history. The 24-year-old Frenchman Chevalier, who has yet to return after an ankle injury, replaced and inherited world goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, who had moved to Manchester City, in the summer. In the cup game this Saturday against fifth division Vendée Fontenay Foot, Chevalier is expected to be between the posts again at PSG.