Reaching the quarter-finals of the Conference League and the humiliation of Roma

The name of Nikita Khaikin was discovered by many Russian fans only in the current season.

This happened thanks to the super-successful performance of Bodø-Glimt in European competition.

All domestic teams were eliminated a long time ago, and the Scandinavian team, modest by continental standards, continues to fight for victory in the Conference League and has excellent chances of reaching the semi-finals.

Moreover, the champion of Norway began his journey in the tournament from the second qualifying round and, on the way to the group stage, broke the resistance of the Icelandic Valur, the Kosovar Pristina and the Lithuanian Zalgiris.

Seriously, they started talking about Khetil Knutsen's wards after an incredible crushing victory over Roma - 6: 1.

Two weeks later in Italy, the Romans intended to take revenge and take revenge, but were content with a draw - 2:2.

In the end, they still took first place in the quartet, but Bodø-Glimt finished second, ahead of the Bulgarian CSKA and the Ukrainian Zorya, and also made it to the playoffs.

There the team continued to amaze everyone.

He knocked Celtic and AZ Alkmaar out of the fight, and in the quarterfinals he again got to Roma, which he beat at home with a score of 2: 1.

Khaykin is one of the main characters of the team.

In the LK, he missed only one match - a home match with Celtic.

In the rest, Nikita invariably took a place at the last frontier and acted reliably.

In 16 meetings in his liability 14 goals conceded.

Also, the Russian six times played to "zero".

And one of the best for him was the quarterfinal duel with the Romans, in which he made three spectacular saves.

According to Yuri Semin, who coached the goalkeeper at Mordovia in 2015, he now demonstrates truly modern football.

“Pay attention to how well he plays with his feet.

I think that no goalkeeper in Europe can be compared with a Russian in this aspect.

In other moments, he also made progress, for example in the game at the exits.

And high growth allows Nikita to get even the most difficult balls, ”the specialist shared his impressions in an interview with RT.

He also separately noted the excellent game of Khaikin with his feet, which allows partners to calmly use him with high pressure from the opponent.

“In fact, he is the 11th field.

And, surprisingly, it almost does not give inaccurate transmissions.

Of course, in "Mordovia" Nikita could not boast of such a technique for receiving the ball, nor the quality of the pass.

This has been done lately.

Plus, he has not only a strong character, but also the makings of a leader, ”added Semin.

And the former goalkeeping coach of "Mordovia" Dmitry Tyapushkin emphasized that in seven years the former ward has noticeably matured.

“He is very light and bouncy.

In Saransk, he was still quite a boy and only showed promise.

Now is another matter.

Nikita literally radiates self-confidence, which is transmitted to the defenders, ”the specialist emphasized in an interview with RT.

Bench in Israel and recognition in Norway

Meanwhile, moving to Scandinavia in the spring of 2019 literally saved Haikin's career.

After an unsuccessful stage at home, he went to Israel, where he played with varying degrees of success for Bnei Yehuda and Hapoel from Kfar Sava.

In the first team, he practically did not receive practice, although the club at the same time became the owner of the country's Cup.

In the second, he was also mostly content with being in the reserve.

In 2019, the athlete decided to try his luck in Norway and signed a contract with the modest Bodø-Glimt, which had returned to the elite division shortly before.

But even there, no one guaranteed a newcomer a place in the squad.

In the first season, he only appeared on the field once in the Norwegian championship match.

“Nikita has done a great job to succeed.

Look how difficult his path in football turned out to be.

On the part of the coaches in relation to the goalkeeper, there were never concessions, he changed many teams before he ended up in Norway.

He tried to gain a foothold in the RPL, but then he was not ready.

The fact that he did not give up is evidence of a strong character.

In the end, perseverance and love for football paid off handsomely, ”Semin rejoiced for his former ward.

Then a white streak finally came in Khaikin's career.

The following year, he made it to the base, and Bodø-Glimt sensationally became the national champion for the first time in history.

In 2021, Knutsen's wards not only performed well in the LC, but also defended the trophy in the national championship.

And the Russian entered the symbolic team of Norwegian football at the end of the year.

However, some experts urge not to take Nikita's successes seriously.

“This is a completely different level.

Teams from there are weaker than Russian ones.

There are a lot of small towns, teams from which play with each other.

The local championship can be compared with the championship of Georgia.

Of course, it’s not at all a fact that Nikita would have played so brightly in the Premier League, ”said Anzor Kavazashvili, the former goalkeeper of the USSR national team, in an interview with RT.

Compliments from Abramovich and work with Semin

At the same time, a native of Netanya was considered a great talent from childhood.

He started his career in FSM "Torpedo" and "Dynamo", and then left for England.

The peak for the young footballer was the game for the youth team of Chelsea.

Later, the young goalkeeper told how, during one of the training sessions, a helicopter hovered right over the field, from which the owner of the club, Roman Abramovich, got out.

“I was later told that he was shown a Russian goalkeeper who was on trial, that is, me.

The owner of the club looked at my work for about five minutes, at how I parried blows.

I confess it was a shock.

The owner of Chelsea himself is watching my actions.

They say he liked me then, ”Khaikin recalled.

Soon he was regularly called up to the youth teams of the country.

It seemed that the talented goalkeeper should not end up with proposals from Russian teams.

In reality, he did not show himself in his homeland.

In 2015, Nikita moved to Mordovia, which was playing at that time in the RPL, which was headed by Semin.

But getting into the composition was out of the question.

The young goalkeeper was content with games in the youth championship, although he worked with the base.

“In Saransk, he was still damp.

We hoped the guy would start to progress thanks to the games for the youth team, especially since he worked with the first team.

He had good competitors.

In addition to Anton Kochenkov, this is the goalkeeper of the Moldavian national team, Ilie Cebanu.

Even then, at some points, I felt: Nikita has great potential and he is able to add, ”Tyapushkin emphasized.

Semin, recalling this period of the goalkeeper's career, noted that, despite his very young age, he quickly joined the team and turned out to be a sociable young man.

“He spoke both English and Spanish, and now he has learned Norwegian.

He is a very smart, educated guy, and most importantly, he knows what he wants.

Goalkeepers are often individualists, but this is not about Nikita.

In the team, he was always considered his own, a member of the team, he was with the guys, ”said the coach.

Tyapushkin also remembered Khaikin as a modern sociable athlete who independently studied foreign languages ​​and was ready to support any conversation.

“I constantly had problems either with computers or with other equipment.

Nikita always came to the rescue and figured it out, ”the specialist recalled.

In the summer of 2016, Nikita ended up in another RPL club - Kuban, but even there he played only for the youth team, and in the Premier League he got into the application as much as possible.

After that, the young athlete again decided to try his hand at Europe.

In general, he can be called the main traveler of Russian football, because the goalkeeper played in five countries, not counting Russia: in England (Chelsea and Portsmouth), Portugal (Nacional), Spain (Marbella), Israel (Bnei -Yehuda" and "Hapoel") and Norway ("Bodø-Glimt").

“He matured every year and became stronger physically.

But he has a sporty personality.

Of course, parents and coaches helped, but he achieved a lot on his own.

After all, Nikita went through not the most successful periods, when you could give up on everything and hang your gloves on a nail, ”Semin emphasized.

Challenge to the Russian national team and the dream of England

But by the age of 26, Khaikin opened up and even earned a call to the Russian national team.

Last fall, Nikita was invited to the national team for the first time, and he was included in the application for the matches of the 2022 World Cup qualifying tournament with Cyprus and Croatia.

“Of course, I can’t give advice to Valery Karpin and Vitaly Kafanov, especially since it’s not enough to watch goalkeepers on TV - you need to constantly be around and participate in the training process.

But Nikita's game impresses me.

He showed that if you can’t play in the Premier League right away, you can try your luck in Europe, and in fact set an example for young Russian football players, ”Tyapushkin was happy for his former ward.

And according to Semin, in the country today there are two equally strong goalkeepers: Khaikin and Matvey Safonov.

They should fight for the title of the first number of the team.

Kavazashvili, on the contrary, believes that Karpin's headquarters only invited the footballer for acquaintance and it is not worth drawing far-reaching conclusions from this.

“Yes, he was called up as the fourth goalkeeper, but I think the coaches just wanted to see Khaikin in action.

To confidently say something good about a football player, you need to see him at least once at the training camp.

When a goalkeeper even goes to training, a lot of things immediately become clear, ”explained the expert.

The return of the two-time Norwegian champion to the RPL, following the example of another legionary goalkeeper Stanislav Kritsyuk, cannot be ruled out.

In December last year, even information appeared about interest in the native of Netanya from Zenit.

However, Khaykin himself does not plan to leave for Russia yet and dreams of trying his hand at English football again.

“It is difficult to talk about other proposals until there were specifics.

But in any case, I really want to play in the Champions League for Bodø-Glimt.

And so, there is a desire to continue playing in Europe, I am not drawn to the Russian championship.

You can’t guess, but between the RPL champion and the club from the basement of the Premier League, I will choose the second option, ”the athlete admitted.

Semin also believes that domestic clubs will have to make very serious efforts if they want to acquire a goalkeeper.

“Nikita stands for a strong team.

All our teams have been eliminated from the European Cups, and Bodø-Glimt is still fighting for the victory in the LK.

As far as I know, he has an interesting offer from the North American MLS.

But the goalkeeper himself has always dreamed of playing in the Premier League, ”the coach emphasized.