Photos via FC Anzhi Makhachkala’s official site

For a lot of us, Makhachkala, Dagestan would have been a pretty safe answer to the question “Where in the world will you not find Alex Ovechkin this summer?” Apparently, a lot of us would have been wrong, as Alex the Great made a surprise appearance during halftime of a soccer match between the Russian Premier League club Anzhi and the defending Russian champions Zenit Saint Petersburg. The local team, Anzhi, honored their guest by presenting him with a traditional Dagestani burka (cape) and papakha (wool hat), as well as the Anzhi supporters scarf. All of these items fit extremely well with one ever-present feature of Alex summer wardrobe — his flip-flops, as reported live by the official Zenit Twitter. Ovi was received with a deafening roar from the stands, with the soccer-themed chants temporarily replaced by the famous Russian hockey call of “Shaibu-Shaibu!”

Unfortunately for the locals, even drafting one of the most famous Russian athletes into their ranks did not help — a different Alex stole the show. With about 10 minutes to go, Saint Petersburg’s always dangerous striker Alexander Kerzhakov scored the only goal of the contest, prompting the traveling supporters to break into their traditional chant of his name to the tune of Lambada, just like this. As Zenit held on to a well-deserved victory, the away fans were pelted with rocks and rushed by OMON (Russian special police) armed with electric batons. All in all, it was just another day in the world of soccer!

Additional Photos

7/25 Update: Video via Sovsport.ru