Vagner Love's farewell match ends 3-3 at VEB Arena

Vagner Love scored twice on his big night out at the VEB Arena, playing one half for each side as his farewell match ended 3-3 on 26 September. The 42-year-old turned out for "Friends of Vagner" in the first half and switched to "CSKA Legends" for the second, finding the net for both teams in Moscow.

Igor Akinfeev, CSKA's captain and still on the club's goalkeeping books this season, led the tributes on social media.

"We gave a fitting send-off to a CSKA legend and one of the best team-mates I've ever played with. Vagner, thank you for bringing us all together this evening. So much nostalgia... All the best, my friend! This isn't goodbye," Akinfeev wrote.

Vladimir Gabulov, working the match for Match TV, singled out the opener. "Vagner sorted out that first goal as if he wasn't 42. He's in the prime of his life. That was brilliant," the former Russia goalkeeper said.

Love spent 2004 to 2011 at CSKA, then returned for a spell in 2013, winning three Russian championships, the UEFA Cup and 15 trophies in all with the club. He now turns out for Retrô FC Brasil, though he has yet to score for them since joining in February.

The occasion carried a sombre thread. Yevgeni Aldonin, Love's former CSKA team-mate, recorded a video message for the club's Telegram channel on 25 September explaining why he could not be there. Aldonin is being treated for cancer in New York.

"I very much wanted to be at the farewell match, but unfortunately my health means I need to be here right now," Aldonin said.

His illness became known in November, with the Russian Football Union describing treatment that would be long and costly, and a fund set up to help cover it; a commentator had more recently placed him under specialist care in Germany. Love's farewell brought that story back into view among a group of players who spent the best part of a decade winning together, and Aldonin's absence was the one gap in an otherwise full house of old team-mates.