Igor Denisov

He made his return to the first team a day later, coming on as a 58th-minute substitute for Viktor Fayzulin in Zenit's 2–1 defeat of FC Rostov.

Denisov's first full match since his return from exile with the youth team came on 6 November in a Champions League group game against RSC Anderlecht, playing the full ninety minutes in a 1–0 loss in Belgium.

In the final, Denisov played the full ninety minutes and opened the scoring in the 72nd minute after being played in by winger Andrei Arshavin.

Zenit went on to win the match 2–0 and lift the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history.

Igor Vladimirovich Denisov (Игорь Владимирович Денисов; born 17 May 1984) is a Russian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Denisov spent most of his career from 2002 to 2013 at his hometown club Zenit Saint Petersburg, playing 354 games, scoring 29 goals and winning honours including three Russian Premier League titles and the UEFA Cup in 2008.

He then played for Anzhi Makhachkala, Dynamo Moscow and Lokomotiv Moscow, winning a further Premier League and two Russian Cups with the last of those clubs.

Denisov signed his first professional contract with Zenit, St. Petersburg's only professional team, after graduating school in 2002.

At the age of 18, Denisov made his debut for Zenit in a league match against CSKA Moscow in 2002.

He made his breakthrough with the club the following year, scoring twice in 19 appearances.

Denisov first featured in the Russian national set up, representing the Under-19 side against Denmark in the second qualifying round for the 2003 UEFA U-19 European Championships.

He then went on to captain the Russia U-21 team.

Denisov trained with Russia in 2005 but did not get into the team.

Under Dutch manager Dick Advocaat, Denisov blossomed as a player, developing into an advanced midfield role behind Andrey Arshavin and Aleksandr Kerzhakov, becoming an influential member of the Zenit squad that won their first Russian Premier League title in 2007.

He made his debut for Russia in 2008, playing 54 games over the next eight years and featuring at Euro 2012 and the 2014 World Cup.

He has been the subject of controversy, courting numerous arguments at the club and international level during his professional career.

Denisov was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and started his footballing career with Turbostroitel before going to Smena, the youth team of Zenit.

On 3 April 2008, Denisov scored Zenit's fourth goal in their 4–1 first leg defeat of Bayer Leverkusen in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup match at the BayArena.

Denisov's performances helped Zenit reach the final against Scottish side Rangers on 15 May, after defeating Bayern Munich 5–1 on aggregate in the semi-finals.

In the resulting UEFA Super Cup, Denisov played the full ninety again, assisting Pavel Pogrebnyak's headed goal as Zenit upset English heavyweight Manchester United 2–1 on 29 August 2008.

After a good run of performances at the club level with Zenit, many sports journalists called for Denisov to be included in the squad for the European Championships in 2008, but he did not make the initial squad and later refused to be called up for the provisional 25-man squad of players after a number of injuries.

Denisov made his debut for Russia on 11 October 2008 in a FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifier against Germany, a 2–1 loss at Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund.

On 29 June 2010, Denisov extended his contract with Zenit for a further five years.

Six months later, on 22 December, Denisov was voted by the fans as the club's "Player of the Year", beating out the likes of playmaker Danny and goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev.

On 27 October 2011, Denisov featured in his 300th competitive fixture for Zenit, in the 3–0 defeat of Volga, including 217 matches in the Premier League, 55 in European competition and 28 matches in domestic cup competitions.

Denisov finished as runner up behind Malafeev as the club's MVP for the 2011–12 campaign, playing 57 games (starting all of them) whilst scoring one goal and providing eight assists.

During the Russian Football Union awards ceremony on 26 May, Denisov was voted as the "Player of the Year" in the Russian Premier League and Zenit won five more club awards for 2011–12 including "Team of the Year."

On 11 August 2012, Denisov provided two assists in Zenit's 5–0 defeat of Spartak Moscow.

On 3 September, Denisov was voted as Zenit's "Player of the Month" for August after playing all five league games and providing those two assists.

Three weeks later, Denisov was demoted to the reserve team for improper behavior according to the club.

Following more than a month with the youth side, Denisov was reinstated to the senior squad and began training with them again on 1 November.

Denisov announced his move to Russian Premier League club Anzhi Makhachkala for a fee of 15 million euros on 21 June 2013.

On 15 August 2013, Denisov moved along with fellow Anzhi players Yuriy Zhirkov and Aleksandr Kokorin to FC Dynamo for an undisclosed fee.

Denisov played in only three matches for Anzhi before the cash-strapped club began to sell its players.

In April 2015, Denisov was put up for sale by Dynamo and told to train on his own for insulting head coach Stanislav Cherchesov.

He returned to Dynamo's lineup in July 2015, after Cherchesov was dismissed as Dynamo's manager and replaced by Andrey Kobelev.

On 31 August 2016, he moved on loan to FC Lokomotiv Moscow for the remainder of the 2016–17 season.

On 2 February 2017, he signed a permanent deal with Lokomotiv that started at the end of the season upon the expiration of his Dynamo contract.

On 27 May 2019, he left Lokomotiv by mutual consent.

On 29 May 2019, he announced through his lawyers that he retired from playing.