“You need to make noise - now this is life”: Mostovoy about the Spartak hype, work as an analyst on TV and the desire to train

“It’s not football that has changed, but its perception”

- Today we are at Luzhniki.

What are your most vivid memories associated with this building?

- As I have repeatedly said, this is the center of the Universe for the players of my generation, and the previous one too.

The beginning of his career took place at this stadium.

The reason is simple: Spartak always played here because they didn't have their own arena.

Plus, the team played here too.

For us, this is a second home.

There were many matches.

I’ll tell you a secret, a large number of beautiful balls in my performance were scored

.

One of the most memorable is in the penalty shootout with Napoli in 1990, when we reached the semi-finals of the Champions Cup.

- And if we are not talking about matches?

- I remember a lot of things.

It happened that in the locker room there was no hot water or hangers, and things, after changing clothes, were simply thrown on the floor.

Then it seemed funny, but now I don’t know if anyone will laugh at the fact that I sometimes had to put on my shoes while sitting on the floor, since the bench was broken.

A teammate still passed at times and kicked as a joke.

On the field itself, as you know, it was no laughing matter.

I remember the beginning of the 1990s - the Russian team played on the lawn of such quality that it cannot even be called a field.

As if several tractors drove through and turned everything around.

Mud, snow, earth, water.

And the most interesting thing is that they left the room under the stands, and no one was indignant that the field was bad.

They said: "Well, let's play!"

- Sometimes it seems that the generation of players was much easier about everything.

Don't you find it funny when you hear the complaints of modern football players about the quality of the lawn or other troubles?

- It happens, yes.

But at the same time I understand them.

They are used to good things.

Fields of the fifth, sixth generation.

Sometimes I hear complaints about the lawn, but I know where they played - there is artificial turf!

I mean, it's exactly right!

At one time we played synthetics only in arenas, and for us it was for happiness.

Although you can’t call such a coating a lawn either - it’s concrete, and there is a carpet on top.

If you fall, which happened often, you yourself understand the consequences.

What kind of shoes did we have?

I look at the photo of those sneakers and wonder how I could play in such shoes.

We ran and then lay with our legs up because they were swollen and the heels were bruised.

But nothing, no one complained.

- Recently, Valery Karpin said that when he was a player, he did not even have 60% of the skills that the current generation has.

Football has stepped forward so much?

- No, I always argue with many on this topic.

Of course, compared to what it was 50 years ago, it has changed.

You are looking at old footage now: a man swung his hand - and five players ran in an incomprehensible direction, to the side.

But we found the times when Johan Cruyff, Diego Maradona performed, and this is a completely different matter.

It's a matter of perception.

Previously, there was one camera at the match, but now there are a million of them, and you can watch the same action from all angles.

Football itself has changed, but the quality of the players then and now is about the same.

There have always been good ones, strong ones, weak ones, stupid ones... stupid ones, bad ones.

Yes, yes, and such met.

But if we compare some standards, as I ran 60 meters, conditionally, in seven seconds, today no one will overcome the distance much faster.

They like to say that football has become faster.

I always answer - turn on the footage of the performance of the USSR national team in 1988 and see what our guys did.

- But it was the team of Valery Lobanovsky, who relied specifically on physics.

And what other teams were distinguished by the same speed and endurance, besides his Dynamo Kyiv?

We just took others.

I came to Spartak at the end of 1986, left in 1991.

During this time, we met ten times with Dynamo Kyiv.

And the balance was in our favor, we won in Kyiv for three years in a row.

And with a good score.

Although the opposite has also happened.

I remember the match at Luzhniki before the 1990 World Cup.

What Dynamo did to us then is incomprehensible to the mind.

I did not understand where I was, the first time I touched the ball in the 20th minute.

So they ran and pressed.

Therefore, everything is relative.

There have always been good players.

But the picture still plays a big role.

Even in our championship, you can watch, for example, Dynamo at the VTB Arena, and then turn on the Arsenal match from Tula.

Someone will ask: “Why are they walking around the field?”

It just affects the surroundings of the stadium from the last century.

• Alexander Mostovoy - about different generations of football players

“The Cup Final should be played at Luzhniki”

- Is the final of the Russian Cup more a picture or football?

- I'll tell you a secret: I didn't watch the match.

At this time, I was playing hockey with my friends, and we had a phone with a broadcast.

I drove up during breaks and looked at the score.

I was rooting for Spartak, of course.

And when in the 86th minute it was 2:1, I decided: well, thank God, we won.

And he didn't digress further.

Only in the evening, when I arrived home, I found out that the blue and white did not score a penalty in the last stoppage minute.

So the ending was great.

- Did you expect to see full stands at the Russian Cup?

— No, to be honest.

But already a few days before the match, increased interest was felt.

On the streets they often asked for autographs, to be photographed.

Once I was approached by people from Vladivostok, who had specially flown to the final.

When they told me about it, I didn't believe it.

Was amazed.

I was glad that the match took place in Luzhniki.

In general, I think that the Cup final should always be played here, in the heart of our country.

As in England it always goes to Wembley, in France it goes to the Stade de France and so on.

Especially now, when the main stadium of the country is empty for a long time.

Yes, many others have been built, but it is possible - and absolutely necessary - to host national team matches on them.

You probably understand what the next question will be.

Where was the Super Bowl game supposed to take place?

- I believe that the place and date of such matches should be determined in advance, as is done in most countries.

People need to book tickets, plan everything.

And then I hear - choose.

How so?

And when they make a decision at the last moment, I understand the state of the Spartak fans.

Here I am on their side: it turned out unfair.

In my opinion, it would be logical to hold the match at a neutral stadium - not in St. Petersburg and not in Moscow.

Moreover, we have good stadiums.

But in the end it turned out what happened.

- There were even words about a possible boycott.

— I was against it.

And I knew it wouldn't happen.

But you need to make noise and shout, that's right.

I am sure that Zenit would also be outraged if they said that the game would be held at the Spartak stadium.

- But Zenit had played four times for the Super Bowl in Moscow before that, and no one had ever said a word.

- And I have already answered this question: because everything was determined in advance.

As, for example, with the Cup of Russia.

No one knew for several months that two Moscow teams would make it to the final.

And if someone else came out, they would still play at Luzhniki, as it was announced long ago.

If today they say that the next Cup final will be held in Kazan, no one will argue.

Even if Rubin comes out, there will be no problems.

- Is the form of dissatisfaction that Spartak chose in the media space about the Super Bowl justified?

- Maybe because of this hype, red and white people are loved more than others?

Spartak is inflaming everything, but now life is like this, it’s impossible without it.

Before the new year, I was surprised by what was happening in social networks.

Someone cursed someone - and he has 5 million subscribers!

They tell some kind of game and brag about it.

My generation doesn't understand this.

Although sometimes you think, maybe, too, undress and run naked along Tverskaya, gain an audience

- If we talk about the media space ... You also started a Telegram channel.

- I have had it for a long time, I just did not use it.

About three years ago, when we opened the academy in Kratovo, we had to create pages.

Then just Telegram was not particularly used.

Now vice versa.

I won’t say that I am strongly involved in the process, I follow from the outside, but this is a necessity.

Sometimes you see some comments about sports, especially football, and your hair stands on end.

I want to respond in some way, and I do it.

I know that many people do not like it, but no less people support it.

In a word, why not?

I don't see anything wrong with that.

How much time do you spend at the academy?

- At the very beginning, when we first opened, it was a school, I went there quite often.

Then the pandemic happened, it became difficult, and we had to adapt to new conditions.

Now we are focusing more on summer camps.

I adopted this format from the Europeans, where many former football players hold such training camps - basically three shifts of nine to ten days.

And we decided to follow the same path.

Because, let's be honest, it's hard to maintain a full-fledged school when there are Spartak, Dynamo, CSKA.

Yes, the guys will come to training with Alexander Mostovoy, but then they need to move somewhere, break through.

Parents also think about this when choosing where to send their child.

So this is more of a commercial story?

- Just not.

Commercial is when talented children come, and you create something out of it.

We also have guys who don't know how to play football come to us!

But they enjoy training, and they are pleased to feel like real athletes.

We try to teach them something.

And it's cool.

Let's say there are three boys who play poorly or badly.

It is clear that they will not be accepted into a large school.

And please, come to us.

• Alexander Mostovoy - about modern hype

“It happens that football goes to fifth place”

Are you interested in teaching children?

— And how can it be uninteresting?

I love messing around with them.

I myself have two, although they are already adults.

For as long as I can remember, I have been with them always and everywhere.

People often ask me why I don't train.

It's been 14 years since I finished my career, and I hear this question all the time.

Has your answer changed?

- Not.

It worked out the way it did.

Such is fate.

Who cares.

In my sports life, I have seen many people who simply shouted that they would never train, and then you look - they work.

I am ready to train - I can train children, teenagers, and older.

- Then why haven't you received the

- There was a moment when I had to act together with other guys, but due to personal circumstances I could not come to Russia for a long time.

Missed the moment.

When he returned in 2012 thoroughly, the time was gone.

The years go by.

I am no longer 40 years old.

Maybe it was meant to be.

Still, he played more than others abroad and for the national team.

But for someone this is how fate develops, for someone else.

What to do.

- Are you sorry?

- I would not say.

I regret other things.

But you cannot influence them.

So much happens in life that sometimes football goes to third and fifth place.

Are you comfortable in your current state or are you thinking about working in big football?

- I think all the time.

Everyone knows my phone number.

I haven't changed it for many years.

It is on 24 hours a day.

Although no, now it has become sometimes turned off

I was recently told during an interview that I probably want a lot.

Why?

And the others who run from team to team don't want to?

I just need a normal attitude, because, in my opinion, I deserve it, like many other guys.

I do not ask to be carried in my arms, I am as simple a person as everyone else.

But I have spent my whole life in football and I am ready, I want and I have the right to talk about it.

- In the Match TV studio during live broadcasts, you often do not strive to act as an analyst, although you are able to do this, given your experience.

Why?

- I agree.

It's just one thing if I and the presenter were in the studio and they gave us an hour of time to analyze the game and different episodes.

Of course, I could tell you everything in detail.

But when there are at least two or three of us, we must all give the floor.

And I, by virtue of my upbringing, try not to interfere with them.

- And even go into the shadows ...

- Yes, but I understand inside that some people really want their opinion to be heard.

- But it looks strange when a guest star of show business or a commentator speaks more than you.

— And what to do?

Well, watch the broadcast tonight.

I will tell a colleague: "You sit, be silent."

At the request of RT, I will now analyze everything.

“You just don’t want to get into a controversy?”

- Many factors.

Sometimes I don’t want to argue, because relationships can deteriorate.

Yet that is how truth is born.

In football today, everyone wants to hurt, prick.

It is visible and felt.

- What would you be willing to bring to football, what would your coaching philosophy be based on?

- Many who have not been in big football ask such questions.

But often a coach with a philosophy, with schemes, systems - what he just doesn’t have!

- comes to the team, and he is removed after two months.

He comes to another team - they are removed after three.

In football, everything has been invented for a long time, there is no need to look for something new.

Here Bakaev was recently asked a question, against which of the defenders is it easiest for him to play.

And he throws up his hands, does not know what to answer.

Well, what can I say?

It happens that the defender you beat will give you such a kick from behind.

And there are those who twice showed left and right - and that's it, he remained in place.

So here.

Whom I just have not seen in football, there were real strategists.

Some people like abstruse expressions: longitudinal gear, diagonal, ingenious, such and such.

We come one day to the locker room, and there the wall is all painted - an arrow to the left, an arrow to the right.

Yes, Christmas trees, sticks, what is it?

Installation for the game!

For about 40 minutes, the mentor explained all this to us in a shout, then in a whisper.

We go out on the field, and in the first minute a man scores in the top nine for us.

The whole team turns to the coach: what do we do now?

This is, of course, ridiculous.

But the simpler football, the better.

- What is its simplicity and why Russian football players cannot play it well?

Why can't they?

They can.

We had a wonderful generation in the USSR that won.

Then came ours at the turn of the era, when 15 people played in the strongest championships abroad and were among the best in these countries.

And then there was big money.

It happened in the 2000s.

Unfortunately, I had just finished my career.

If I had played for another five years, I would also have hooked on the bread times.

Left when they first started.

Although there was a moment in 2004 when they called to Russia.

But it was very hard for me to agree to this after a decade and a half lived abroad.

There is a family, children.

But to be honest, I later regretted it.

Here you could earn money doing almost nothing.

Score one goal and rest.

So, with the advent of big money, artificial conditions were created - and football debauchery began.

The young guys began to tear the roof off.

There was a time when no one wanted to go abroad.

Why, if everything is here.

As in the cartoon: "They feed us well here too."

• USSR Football Championship 1991.

  Alexander Mostovoy in the match with Yerevan "Ararat"

• RIA News

• © Vladimir Rodionov

"Maybe I'm not a legend"

- Zenit is involved in the lives of its veterans: Alexander Kerzhakov, Andrey Arshavin, Vladislav Radimov, Vladimir Bystrov.

Why is Spartak different?

- Therefore, the St. Petersburg people win all the time 

.

I also asked myself this question.

I visited the new Spartak stadium for the first time in 2019.

Then I got a call from the club for the first time.

I knew it was my birthday.

They invited me and handed me a commemorative T-shirt.

Before that, I had never been to Tushin.

After that, I went to matches twice more.

But just with friends.

Although, as far as I know, in every club there is a box for veterans, for those who have done a lot for the team.

Spartak seems to have it too.

But no one invited me there.

Everything is there for you too.

- Maybe they are offended by you for something?

- Probably because he left in the 1990s and did not play for Spartak 

.

- For example, for constant criticism of coaches.

- I do not exclude.

But the most interesting thing is that this is not a criticism.

90% of my predictions come true.

Remember how Sasha Bubnov lit?

He blew everyone to smithereens.

Many resented him.

What for?

99% of what he said was true.

But he was not loved for his straightforwardness.

So maybe that's the reason.

Although I try to always behave ethically.

Yes, if I see injustice, I can respond sharply.

But I always worried about Spartak.

Although many are now starting to shout in the back: “Maybe you don’t support the team anymore?”

The Match of Legends took place before the Super Bowl.

They called me all week before him and asked why Mostovoy was not there.

I answer: "Well, I guess I'm not a legend."

Although I have more heads than many.

But they played together here for Spartak and, probably, decided to play with their company of friends.

- In other words, neither the club nor the RFU contacted you?

- No, the last time I was in the RFU was 10 years ago.

- Do you communicate with former Spartak players and collections?

- Yes, we write off, we cross.

But no one called.

About seven years ago, I was still thinking about it, worried.

And now it's gone.

What's the point of worrying?

No means no.

Everyone has their own life.

- Everyone, including you, scolded the last Spartak coaches, but Domenico Tedesco, and Rui Vitoria, and Paolo Vanoli achieved something, not to mention Massimo Carrera

- Indeed, with all the cataclysms, the club won the Cup in 2022, and the championship in 2017.

While Dynamo won the trophy for the last time back in the 1990s, already under Konstantin Beskov.

- But the blue and white in the XXI century have never been among the favorites of the championship.

- Yes, but still, Dynamo and Spartak historically fought for awards in the USSR.

It's just that there is less noise in Petrovsky Park than in Tushino.

By the way, this is where all the problems of the red-whites come from.

There was a period before the championship, when many blamed Leonid Fedun for the failures of the team.

They said that only with his departure the team will start to succeed.

I asked: “What does he not like?”

He pays on time and not bad, he built the stadium.

The only thing is that at first he often gave interviews.

But then he began to communicate less with journalists, and the team slowly went up the hill.

Nevertheless, he did a lot for Spartak.

Now another problem: his wife constantly comments on what is happening.

But this is the nature of today's world.

There must be hype, although many people think that this is the problem.

I think that it is right to speak out, although I do not agree with all the words.

- Don't you think that Zenit of the 2010s is an improved Spartak of the 1990s?

- You can compare, but the only similarity is that the club takes the best.

Then the country fell apart and getting into Spartak was considered something cosmic, so the guys fled, and the red-whites won everything in a row.

There was a championship of one team.

Now there is resistance.

Even taking into account the fact that Zenit has strong Russians and very good foreigners, for whom they pay €10-20 million each. Can you imagine if the legionnaires leave them?

Do you think the club will have such superiority?

Of course not.

If now they ask me who will be the champion, I will unequivocally answer: “Zenith”, and if you remove five or six foreign players, then no longer.

• Midfielder of the Russian national team Alexander Mostovoy in a friendly match with the French.

  April 17, 2002

• Legion Media

• © PanoramiC

- So, maybe the championship will become more interesting?

“That we don't know.

At the end of last season, when legionnaires left many teams, I sometimes could not distinguish Krasnodar from Arsenal by the game.

The players are trying to do something on the field, but it doesn't work out very well.

Therefore, good foreigners should be present so that the young ones watch and absorb how the same Malcolm, Barrios, Promes, Moses and others stop the ball and handle it.

How without them?

- It is necessary that our own learn not worse.

- I agree, maybe now the Russians will finally come to the fore.

There were no foreigners in the USSR at all, but we somehow got out, won the European Championship, at the youth level, and now our guys can’t really win anything.

We were the last ones in 1990!

What conditions do you need?

What else does?

I do not understand.

- So we have a sparse situation with coaches.

Do you have an answer why there are not enough of them and we are increasingly calling on foreign specialists?

- There is no answer, because in our football I am a foreign body.

I'm neither in the RFU, nor in the club.

I do not know the scheme of how a choice is made in favor of this or that person.

- Weren't you interested?

- I knew.

If I start telling the whole truth, your equipment will explode.

But I won't do it.

• Alexander Mostovoy on comparing Spartak in the 1990s and Zenit in the 2000s

“Our footballers lack sports anger”

- You once said that in Russia there are only two forwards who can beat one-on-one, so defenders can play up to 40 years.

— Да, это было перед домашним чемпионатом мира. Когда ещё выступал Сергей Игнашевич. Я не понимал, зачем ему заканчивать. Мы же видим, что происходит. Нападающий подбегает, смотрит на него метра за три и не знает, как дальше действовать, вместо того чтобы начать обыгрывать. Хорошим дриблингом в России мало кто обладает. Это качество есть у Фёдора Смолова, но ему уже 32 года. Тот же Александр Головин никогда не стеснялся, благодаря чему сразу начал выделяться на общем фоне, но он не нападающий.

— Получается, у нас и двух форвардов-то таких нет.

— Я об этом и говорю. Иван Сергеев — футболист другого склада. Он игрок штрафной: умеет вылететь, выскочить на мяч. Но двух защитников он не пойдёт обводить. Зелимхан Бакаев способен, но и он опять же действует из глубины, под нападающими, как и я. Всегда привожу пример: хотите посмотреть, как должен играть форвард, посмотрите голы Игоря Колыванова в Италии. Что он делал с защитой «Милана», когда там играли Паоло Мальдини, Франко Барези и Мауро Тассотти. Шёл на них, раскачивал влево-вправо — они, бедные, падали и не знали, как его остановить. Я от этого отталкиваюсь. Ну уж про голы Мостового не вспоминаю.

— За кем из футболистов вы сейчас следите особо пристально?

— Когда выбирали лучшего футболиста РПЛ по итогам прошлого сезона, я сразу сказал, что им должен стать Кристиан Нобоа. Поначалу на первом месте шёл Клаудиньо. Согласен, он хороший игрок, но эквадорец в 37 лет выдал шикарный год — забил семь мячей, столько же передач отдал. Во многом благодаря его стараниям «Сочи» стал вторым. Через неделю выходит опрос футболистов — Кристиан на первом месте. Спасибо, согласились.

Среди молодых мне очень нравится Захарян. Как и несколько лет назад Головин в ЦСКА, он сразу обратил на себя внимание. Помню, увидел Сашу и подумал, что надо последить за ним. Бросалось в глаза: у парня хорошие задатки. И через два года он и в ЦСКА стал основным, и в сборной. Схожие качества вижу и у Арсена. Он может добиться успеха, главное сейчас — удержаться и не свернуть. Думаю, получится, он вроде парень с головой.

— У «Спартака» свои подающие надежды. Болельщики выдают много авансов Зиньковскому, ждут прогресса от Игнатова. Они способны стать лицом новой команды?

— Что касается Антона, то надо подождать и посмотреть. Хотя я очень удивился, когда узнал, что ему уже 26 лет. Думал, парню от силы 22. А вот на Михаила уже делается ставка, он постоянно в составе. Правда, в каких-то играх явно выпадал. Но у него есть хорошие качества. Нужно только немножко заматереть. Многим нашим игрокам не хватает футбольной злости. Того, что требуется в ведущих европейских чемпионатах.

When I arrived at Benfica at the age of 21 and went to training, they instantly drove into my legs from behind, and in boots with huge spikes.

I was surprised, and the football player answered me: “What were you waiting for?

I want to play too."

Golovin has already matured in Monaco.

Try to push him, he won't let himself be offended.

This is what the youth is missing.

The same Zakharyan needs to be added in masculinity, anger.

• Alexander Mostovoy at Euro 2004

• AP

• © Darko Vojinovic

* Meta product, activity recognized as extremist, banned in Russia by decision of the Tverskoy Court of Moscow dated 03/21/2022.