Football Player's Biography 7: Roman Pavlyuchenko

Full name	Roman Anatolevich Pavlyuchenko
Date of birth	15 December 1981 (1981-12-15) (age 29)
Place of birth	Mostovskoy, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)^[1]
Playing position	Striker

Roman Anatolevich Pavlyuchenko (Russian: Роман Анатольевич Павлюченко; born 15 December 1981 in Mostovskoy) is a Russian footballer who currently plays as a centre forward for English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur 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 88 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^[2] for a reported fee of £14 million.^[3] Pavlyuchenko made his debut for the Spurs on 15 September against Aston Villa.^[4] He scored his first goal on 24 September 2008, in the 2–1 League Cup 3rd round win against Newcastle United.^[5] Pavlyuchenko went on to score his first league goal for the club in the 2–0 victory against Bolton Wanderers on 26 October 2008.^[6] 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.^[7] 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 a brilliant volley in a 4-2 deafeat to Bolton Wanderers, following this he scored again the next weekend in a home win against Blackburn Rovers. He started on the 6th March 2011 and scored a goal against Wolverhampton Wanderers FC.

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.^[8] He was named in Guus Hiddink's 23-man squad for UEFA Euro 2008.^[9]
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.^[10]^[11] He was declared man of the match after the 1–0 game with Greece,^[12] 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.^[13] After the tournament ended, he was named in the 23-man Team of the Tournament.

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,^[15] 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".^[16]