Dimitri Alenichev

Biography

Dmitri Alenichev (russian: Дмитрий Аленичев, born 20 October 1972 in Velike Luki , Soviet Union) is a professional footballer.

Dispite being a Spartak Moscow fan, Alenichev debuted 1991 for Moscow rivals Lokomotiv, where he played during four years before moving to Spartak, where in five years he won three Russian leagues and two cups, and was also elected Russian player of the year in 1997. He won a transfer to Serie A side AS Roma, played 21 matches in the first season, but after only seven matches played, he moved to AC Perugia in December.

In 2000 he was bought by FC Porto, where he made a good first impression (scored the tying against Sporting in the Portuguese Super Cup), and made a good first season where Porto captured the Portuguese cup 2-0 against CS Marítimo, Alenichev scoring the second goal. In the following season, Alenichev suffered some animosity from new Porto coach Octávio Machado (the same happened with compatriot Sergei Ovchinnikov) and spent most of the first half of the season sidelined, under the shadow of Deco. As soon as Octávio was fired and replaced with José Mourinho, Alenichevs' luck changed. Altough he still played in the starting eleven, he was usually the first player to jump from the bench, especially when Mourinho passed from a 4-3-3 to a 4-4-2 formation. Altough not starting on both european finals played by FC Porto, Alenichev scored on both: against Celtic he scored the second goal, following a pass from Deco, and against AS Monaco he closed the scoreline with a powerful shot following a cross from Derlei.

During Euro 2004, where he played the whole three matches Russia disputed, he announced his desire to return to Spartak Moscow, and in appreciation for the services done for the club, the FC Porto board made no objections to a transfer.