Roman Pavlyuchenko

Roman Pavlyuchenko
Роман Павлюченко

Personal information
Full name	Roman Anatolyevich Pavlyuchenko
Date of birth	15 December 1981 (1981-12-15)
Place of birth	Mostovskoy, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Lokomotiv Moscow
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1998–1999	Dynamo Stavropol	31	(21)
2000–2002	Rotor Volgograd	65	(14)
2003–2008	Spartak Moscow	141	(89)
2008–2012	Tottenham Hotspur	78	(20)
2012–	Lokomotiv Moscow	0	(0)
National team‡
2003–	Russia	45	(20)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18 December 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 November 2011

This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs; the patronymic is Anatolevich and the family name is Pavlyuchenko.

Roman Anatolyevich Pavlyuchenko (Russian: Роман Анатольевич Павлюченко; born 15 December 1981 in Mostovskoy) is a Russian footballer playing as a centre forward for Russian club FC Lokomotiv Moscow and for the Russian national team.

Club career

Spartak Moscow

Pavlyuchenko moved to Spartak Moscow in the spring of 2003. During his time at Spartak, Pavlyuchenko was the club's most prolific goalscorer, scoring 109 goals in 187 games. His goalscoring, together with his loyalty to the rhombik (the club's emblem), earned him much respect and appreciation from the "Army of Red-White Fans".

Tottenham Hotspur

In September 2008, Pavlyuchenko signed for Tottenham Hotspur for a reported fee of £14 million. Pavlyuchenko made his debut for the Spurs on 15 September against Aston Villa. He scored his first goal on 24 September 2008, in the 2–1 League Cup 3rd round win against Newcastle United. Pavlyuchenko went on to score his first league goal for the club in the 2–0 victory against Bolton Wanderers on 26 October 2008. He has scored in every English domestic cup competition game he has played in, except for the 2009 Football League Cup Final. In the 2009–10 season, Pavlyuchenko was fourth-choice striker for Tottenham, with Harry Redknapp preferring Robbie Keane, Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe to the Russian.^{[citation needed]}

Pavlyuchenko came on as a substitute on 21 February against Wigan Athletic and scored his first league goal of the season, a close-range finish to make the score 2–0. He also added a second from a very tight angle during injury time to make it 3–0. He made only his second start of the season on three days later in the FA Cup fifth-round replay against Bolton Wanderers and scored twice, a match Tottenham won 4–0. Redknapp has since gone on to say that the Russian striker has taken his opportunity and may well see further first team action. Pavlyuchenko continued his good form with another goal against Everton on the 28 February, and another two goals against Blackburn Rovers on 13 March. He also scored a goal in the quarter-final replay against Fulham at White Hart Lane on 24 March. On 17 August, he scored a vital away goal against BSC Young Boys in the Champions League play-off round first leg. Tottenham were losing 3–0 until a Sébastien Bassong header pulled it back to 3–1 and Pavlyuchenko later made it 3–2. In the second leg, Spurs won 4–0 at home, meaning that they would progress into the Champions League group stages. Pavlyuchenko's promising form in this tournament continued with two second-half penalty strikes against FC Twente in Tottenham's second group match, followed by a decisive third goal as Spurs beat cup holders Inter Milan on Matchday 4. On 4 November, Pavlyuchenko scored with a volley in a 4–2 defeat to Bolton Wanderers. The following weekend, he scored again in a home win against Blackburn Rovers. On 6 March 2011, he scored a goal against Wolves. He scored the first goal against West Bromwich Albion on 2–2 draw on April. Pavlyuchenko scored a goal in a London derby against Chelsea in a 1–1 draw. On 22 May, the final day of the season, Pavlyuchenko scored two stunning long-range goals in a 2–1 win against Birmingham City to ensure that Tottenham finished fifth in the Premier League and qualified for the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League. The win also relegated Birmingham to the Championship. The Russian's Tottenham career up until this point had consisted of constantly being down the pecking order despite in the 2009-10 season having a better goals per minute ratio than all of his fellow strike partners in Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and Robbie Keane. The same went for the 2010-11 season when in March Pavlyuchenko had a minutes per goals ratio of 151 compared to competitors Jermain Defoe who had 208, Peter Crouch had 243 and Rafael van der Vaart had 161. In December of the 2011-12 season, the striker had been restricted to just 18 minutes of Barclays Premier League football, until he came on against Sunderland F.C. and went on to score the only goal of the game in the 61st minute. This was his third goal of the season having scored against Shamrock Rovers and Rubin Kazan in the Europa League earlier in the season.

Lokomotiv Moscow

On 31 January 2012, Pavlyuchenko signed a deal with Lokomotiv Moscow for a fee of £8 million.

International career

In 2003, Pavlyuchenko was first called into the Russian national team and since 2005 has been consistently earning caps at the national level.

Euro 2008

Roman Pavlyuchenko was in the spotlight when he scored both goals in Russia's 2–1 victory in a crucial Euro 2008 qualification match against England. He was named in Guus Hiddink's 23-man squad for UEFA Euro 2008.

He scored a late consolation goal in Russia's loss to Spain in their opening match of the campaign and the first goal in Russia's third match of the tournament against Sweden to send Russia through at Sweden's expense. He was declared man of the match after the 1–0 game with Greece, although he did not score in the game, and then scored the first goal of the match in Russia's 3–1 quarter final victory over the Netherlands. After the tournament ended, he was named in the 23-man Team of the Tournament.

Euro 2012 qualification

Pavlyuchenko scored his first international hat-trick on 4 June 2011 in a match against Armenia.

Career statistics

Club

Club	Season	League		Domestic Cups		Europe		Total
		Games	Goals	Games	Goals	Games	Goals	Games	Goals
Tottenham Hotspur	2011–12	5	1	2	1	5	2	12	4
	2010–11	29	10	2	0	8	4	39	13
	2009–10	16	5	8	5	0	0	24	10
	2008–09	28	5	8	9	0	0	36	14
Club total		78	21	19	15	13	6	111	42
Spartak Moscow	2008	14	6	0	0	3	1	17	7
	2007	22	14	3	0	7	6	32	20
	2006	27	18	7	0	10	3	44	21
	2005	25	21	1	1	0	0	26	22
	2004	26	15	3	0	5	3	34	13
	2003	27	15	6	3	2	1	35	14
Club total		141	89	20	4	27	14	188	107
Rotor Volgograd	2002	21	4	1	0	0	0	21	4
	2001	28	5	0	0	0	0	28	5
	2000	16	5	1	1	0	0	17	6
Club Total		65	14	2	1	0	0	67	15
Dynamo Stavropol	1999	31	21	3	0	0	0	34	21
Club total		31	21	3	0	0	0	34	21
Career totals		313	144	44	19	40	20	400	183

^{Statistics correct as of matches played 18 December 2011.}

International goals

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	8 October 2005	Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow, Russia	Luxembourg	3 – 1	5–1	2006 World Cup qualification
2	22 August 2007	Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow, Russia	Poland	2 – 0	2–2	Friendly match
3	17 October 2007	Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Russia	England	1 – 1	2–1	UEFA Euro 2008 qualification
4	17 October 2007	Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Russia	England	2 – 1	2–1	UEFA Euro 2008 qualification
5	28 May 2008	Wacker Arena, Burghausen, Germany	Serbia	2 – 1	2–1	Friendly match
6	4 June 2008	Wacker Arena, Burghausen, Germany	Lithuania	3 – 1	4–1	Friendly match
7	10 June 2008	Tivoli-Neu, Innsbruck, Austria	Spain	3 – 1	4–1	Euro 2008
8	18 June 2008	Tivoli-Neu, Innsbruck, Austria	Sweden	1 – 0	2–0	Euro 2008
9	21 June 2008	St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland	Netherlands	1 – 0	3–1	Euro 2008
10	10 September 2008	Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow, Russia	Wales	1 – 0	2–1	2010 World Cup qualification
11	28 March 2009	Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Russia	Azerbaijan	1 – 0	2–0	2010 World Cup qualification
12	12 August 2009	Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow, Russia	Argentina	2 – 3	2–3	Friendly match
13	5 September 2009	Petrovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, Russia	Liechtenstein	2 – 0	3–0	2010 World Cup qualification
14	5 September 2009	Petrovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, Russia	Liechtenstein	3 – 0	3–0	2010 World Cup qualification
15	9 September 2009	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales	Wales	3 – 1	3–1	2010 World Cup qualification
16	29 March 2011	Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar	Qatar	1 – 1	1–1	Friendly match
17	4 June 2011	Petrovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, Russia	Armenia	1 – 1	3–1	UEFA Euro 2012 qualification
18	4 June 2011	Petrovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, Russia	Armenia	2 – 1	3–1	UEFA Euro 2012 qualification
19	4 June 2011	Petrovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, Russia	Armenia	3 – 1	3–1	UEFA Euro 2012 qualification
20	11 October 2011	Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Russia	Andorra	3 – 0	6–0	UEFA Euro 2012 qualification

Personal life

Pavlyuchenko is married to Larisa and has a young daughter named Kristina. In Russia, Pavlyuchenko is a local Duma (city council) deputy in Stavropol, representing the ruling Vladimir Putin-led United Russia party, although "because of my profession it won't be easy for me to take part directly in the workings of the city council – but I am ready to help with advice and with a concrete contribution to the development possibilities for exercise and sport".

Honours

Spartak Moscow

• 2003: Russian Cup

Tottenham Hotspur

• 2009: Carling Cup Runner-Up

International

• Euro 2008 Team of the tournament

Individual

• Tottenham Hotspur Player of the Month: November 2008, February 2010
• 2006: Russian Premier League's top goalscorer (18 goals in 27 matches)
• 2007: Russian Premier League's joint top goalscorer (14 goals in 22 matches)

References

Bibliography

• Marc Bennetts, 'Football Dynamo – Modern Russia and the People's Game,' Virgin Books, (15 May 2008), 0753513196

External links

• Roman Pavlyuchenko – FIFA competition record
• Player page (Russian) Premier League
• Player Profile Tottenham Hotspur
• Roman Pavlyuchenko career stats at Soccerbase
• Player profile (Russian)
• English Premier League profile