Russian football journalist and author Igor Rabiner has hailed Everton duo Samuel Eto’o and Aiden McGeady as pivotal to the development of the Russia Premier League.
Rabiner, who currently writes for Sport-Express, believes both are still well-respected among Russian football fans and says FC Krasnodar will be wary of the twosome should they be involved at Goodison Park on Thursday.
McGeady spent more than three years in the capital with Spartak Moscow after signing from Celtic in 2010, and Rabiner says the Republic of Ireland international is fondly remembered in Russia.
“McGeady is a very rare Western European player who was able to learn the language to a good level,” he explained. “He knew a lot of comical words, and he kept everybody entertained with this.
“His first season at Spartak was fantastic and the club’s former manager, Valery Karpin, still admires him for a moment in the end of the 2012 season.
“Aiden had a knock and had the option not to travel for the final game of the year away at Rubin Kazan, where it is very cold in December. He not only opted to travel, he also insisted that he wanted to play and went on to score the winning goal.”
Meanwhile, Rabiner also believes Eto’o, who netted to earn the Blues a 1-1 draw at the Kuban Stadium in October, is still regarded as a hero in the Dagestan region of the country, home to the Cameroonian's former employers, Anzhi Makhachkala.
He added: “Eto'o did a lot for Anzhi Makhachkala. He was the captain and the local people of Dagestan region are still very grateful to him – not just because of the goals he scored.
“After scoring a hat-trick for Chelsea last season, he wrote on Twitter that it was the first Dagestanian hat-trick in English Premier League. It was very touching.
“Also, everybody remembers his typical goal celebration at home. He used to run to the nearest police officer on the edge of the pitch and wear his hat – it became a rather regular site in Russian newspapers!
“He really did a lot for the promotion of the region. The people of Dagestan love him for sure.”
