Aleksandr Sobolev: Russia’s Siberian striker who never gave up his dream

03-Jun-2021 11:00:09 | The Guardian

The big Spartak Moscow striker had to fight hard to reach an elite Russian club and is making up for lost time

This article is part of the Guardian’s Euro 2020 Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 24 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from two countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 11 June.

Barnaul is not a lovely place to play football. A city in the south of Western Siberia, there is beautiful nature but a harsh Siberian climate. Dinamo Barnaul, the local professional football team, have always played in the lower echelons of the Russian league. But Barnaul gave Russian football Alexey Smertin, a former national captain, who successfully played in Europe for Bordeaux, Chelsea, Fulham and Portsmouth and won the Premier League title and Carling Cup with Chelsea in 2005.