Winger Sergey Pinyaev became Russia’s youngest ever international footballer when he made his debut in the friendly match against Tajikistan on Thursday.
Pinyaev was named in the starting line-up for the game in Dushanbe, and at 18 years and 15 days old, he beat the previous record set by goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev as the youngest player to win a senior cap for his country.
Now retired from international football, Akinfeev was aged 18 years and 20 days old when he earned the first of his 111 appearances for Russia back in 2004.
Pinyaev, who plays his club football for the Samara-based Krylia Sovetov, featured for 84 minutes against Tajikistan as an experimental Russian line-up labored to a 0-0 draw.
“I never talk about players in public. [But] for the debut of an 18-year-old, it looked very decent,” Russia manager Valeri Karpin told the media after the match when asked about Pinyaev’s performance.
Fellow teenager Arsen Zakharyan, who held the previous record as Russia’s youngest ever outfield player, was introduced by Karpin at half-time but failed to engineer a breakthrough, despite Russia enjoying 65% of possession against a team ranked number 108 in the world by FIFA.
The match was at least a rare chance for Karpin to see his team in action after Russia was banned from all official FIFA and UEFA competitions in February because of the conflict in Ukraine.
Russia earned a 2-1 win against Kazakhstan in Bishkek in September, which was their first outing in almost 11 months.
Next up after the disappointing draw in Tajikistan is a meeting with Uzbekistan scheduled for Tashkent on Sunday.
That is the same day the FIFA World Cup kicks off in Qatar – a tournament Russia had entertained hopes of reaching before being banned.
Pinyaev’s appearance on Thursday was among the bright spots for the team as Karpin seeks to embed younger talent in the ranks.
The teenager has long been tipped for success within Russia after developing at the widely respected Chertanovo academy in Moscow.
Pinyaev has trained with the youth set-up at English giants Manchester United in recent years, further fueling the expectations surrounding the gifted young winger.
At club level, the start of Pinyaev’s season with Krylia Sovetov was disrupted by injury, but he has still managed three goals in 11 Russian Premier League appearances so far this campaign, as well as providing three assists.
Russia manager Karpin has signaled he intends to make significant changes to the starting line-up when the team take on Uzbekistan at the Pakhtakor Central Stadium this weekend.