Vágner Love leaves CSKA with a heavy heart

Vágner Love, a UEFA Cup winner with PFC CSKA Moskva in 2005, has left the Russian club and returned to his homeland in a reported €10m switch to CR Flamengo.

The striker, capped 21 times by Brazil, has signed a three-year deal with the Rio de Janeiro outfit, where he enjoyed a loan spell in the first half of 2010. "Vágner Love spent seven years at our club and played a crucial role making this period the most successful time in CSKA's post-Soviet history," said a statement issue by the Army Men.

In total, the 27-year-old registered 117 goals in 244 outings for CSKA following his move in 2004 from SE Palmeiras. He won the Russian Premier-Liga title twice, the domestic cup five times and the UEFA Cup seven years ago, when he scored in a 3-1 victory against Sporting Clube de Portugal in the Lisbon final.

Love, the first foreign player to amass a century of goals for a Russian side, also finished as top scorer in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup campaign with 11 efforts to his name. "I leave Russia with the warmest of memories," he said. "I fell in love with CSKA with all my heart − they became my home.

"These were fantastic years because we won lots of titles, but I value even more how I was treated here. They made me a man here and for that I am thankful to club president Evgeni Giner first of all. I want to thank the fans, too."

Flamengo finished fourth in the 2011 Brazilian season, thereby earning entry into this year's Copa Libertadores. CSKA, meanwhile, are six points behind leaders FC Zenit St Petersburg ahead of the transitional 18-month campaign's resumption in March. Before then, Leonid Slutski's team face Real Madrid CF in the UEFA Champions League round of 16, playing the first leg at the Luzhniki Stadion on 21 February.