Just facts about Alexander Erokhin at Zenit – the man who just delivered a crucial victory, propelled the team to the top, and kept them in the championship race. Master of one touch.
By Ilya Vasilyev
1. 272 matches – 20th in club history: Konstantin Zyryanov has 286, Nicolas Lombaerts 289. Among current players: Wilmar Barrios (259), Douglas Santos (243), Andrei Mostovoy (206), Wendel (179).
2. 46 goals – also 20th all-time. Among contemporaries, only Alexander Kerzhakov (162), Artem Dzyuba (108), Andrey Arshavin (80), Hulk (77), Miguel Danny (68), Sardar Azmoun (62), and Mateo Cassierra (49) have scored more.
3. 233 matches in the Sergei Semak era – only Barrios (259) and Santos (243) have played more. He is also the sixth top scorer under this coach, though his partners with higher efficiency took penalties.
Yet Erokhin was never considered a Zenit star:
– Under Roberto Mancini, fans barely appreciated him. He often played as a defensive midfielder but didn’t resemble a playmaker – he seemed like a clumsy, untechnical player. At that time, no one understood why Stanislav Cherchesov kept calling him up to the national team. I vividly remember walking away from a 0-0 draw with Leonid Kuchuk’s Rostov in 2017, alongside fans, wondering why Erokhin was even needed if he couldn’t control the ball.
– Under Semak, the defining players were Douglas Santos, Yaroslav Rakitskyi, Branislav Ivanovic, Barrios, Wendel, Claudinho, Malcom, Maxim Glushenkov, Sardar Azmoun, Artem Dzyuba – Erokhin never played more than 43% of minutes in a single RPL season.
But what a valuable rotation player Erokhin has always been! If Alexander is in the starting lineup, it’s likely that Zenit is in crisis and the team needs help. And he will surely cause chaos in the opponent’s box.
Fall 2018. Semak was clearing out the squad after the Mancini and Lucescu eras. Plus, early in the season, Christian Noboa tore his ACL – there was almost no choice in midfield or attack, and the team lacked balance. Semak moved Erokhin to the left flank so that the midfielder could attack the center from crosses. Result: 4 goals + 3 assists in six matches, including two game-winning goals.
Fall 2020. Zenit was shaken: Sebastián Driussi injured, Malcom injured again, Spartak led at the international break. But in October, Erokhin scored four of Zenit’s seven RPL goals and accounted for half of the team’s total xG, playing as a winger, number eight, and number ten. With him, Zenit stayed among the leaders, and after the stars recovered, they returned to first place and easily won the title.
Summer 2021. Dzyuba was exhausted after the COVID season and Euro 2021, Malcom went to the Olympics, and Claudinho hadn’t been signed yet. Semak’s usual 4-4-2 wasn’t working; Erokhin was sent up front alongside Dzyuba and Azmoun – he scored four goals in three matchdays. After the Brazilians returned, Semak switched to a 3-4-3 – and for the first time, Zenit reached the European spring from the Champions League.
Fall 2024. Injury to Maxim Glushenkov, decline of Claudinho, failed experiments with Alexander Sobolev – Luciano Gondou – Mateo Cassierra. Semak again turned to Erokhin: Alexander calmed the game against Spartak (0-0), scored against Fakel (3-1), and won a penalty against Orenburg (1-0). In each match, he attracted throw-ins, corners, and every cross.
May 2026. In the 2025
