Yes, that's Andrei Arshavin ? finally set free from his decomposition on Arsenal's bench and back with Zenit St. Petersburg ? actually playing football and actually running and actually scoring a goal. It was just his second Russian Premier League match since returning for a third stint with Zenit and his first goal in a competitive match since the one and only he scored for Arsenal in a 6-1 Capital One Cup win against Coventry.
Arshavin's goal put Zenit up 1-0 in the 65th minute against Kuban Krasnodar, who would eventually equalize in the 79th minute. Regardless of the result, Arshavin's goal brought his infectious joy back to the pitch ? something that, on the surface, didn't seem to dissipate as his form fell off a cliff and his playing time disappeared. But as he later admitted, spending more and more time on the bench nearly took a toll on him.
"It was a punishment sat on the bench. To train even though you know you won?t play ? it is psychologically difficult," he told Sport Express.
"I nearly suffered depression, but I didn?t because I?m mentally strong. The monotony of life there was crushing me."
As we know from his brilliant (and sadly defunct) Q&A sessions on his official website, Andrei truly is a difficult man to break down mentally. He never did understand those Blackberrys, though.
Anyway, hopefully this proves to be the beginning of the rebirth of Andrei Arshavin.
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