Mkhitaryan feels at home for CSKA test
United look to build on their home win over Basel
Trips to Russia have traditionally been seen as complicated assignments for English clubs, but Henrikh Mkhitaryan will have little trouble acclimatising when Manchester United visit CSKA Moscow this week.
The speedy attacking midfielder was born in Yerevan in January 1989 when the Armenian capital was still part of the Soviet Union.
He speaks fluent, accent-free Russian, the legacy both of a maternal grandmother from Moscow and the four years he spent in the Russian-speaking Ukrainian city of Donetsk with first Metalurg and then Shakhtar.
“My grandmother is from Moscow. I spoke a lot of Russian with her at home,” Mkhitaryan told the Shakhtar Donetsk website in 2013.
“It’s probably thanks to my grandmother’s help that I don’t have an accent anymore, which is a good thing!”
United tackle CSKA at VEB Arena in the Champions League today, looking to build on their 3-0 home win over Basel in their opening Group A fixture.
Mkhitaryan, 28, scored on their previous visit to Russia in March, his away goal at FC Rostov paving the way for a 2-1 aggregate win in the Europa League last 16.
The former Borussia Dortmund player proved something of a lucky charm for United in the competition.
His six goals in the tournament included one in each leg of the quarter-final against Anderlecht and the predatory close-range finish, early in the second half, that rubberstamped their 2-0 win over Ajax in the final in Stockholm.
Golden era
“The game of my life was last season’s Europa League final,” he said. “That’s because it was the first European trophy for me and the first one ever for an Armenian footballer.
“No one from Armenia had ever been able to reach that level before. To play in a European final and to score, too, made it one of the best games I have played.” Mkhitaryan had missed United’s win over Southampton in the League Cup final through injury and his goalscoring turn against Ajax supplied a golden end to what had initially been a difficult maiden campaign.
A £26 million (Dh129.25 million) signing from Dortmund, he made his first start in a high-stakes derby against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City at Old Trafford in early September.
But he played so poorly, and looked so off the pace, that he was substituted at half-time.
He did not return to the starting XI until early December and it was not until the season’s second half that he became a first-team fixture.
His decisive Europa League displays had the triple effect of cementing his place in the team, charming United’s fans and helping the club secure a return to the Champions League.