Nikolai Zabolotny, goalkeeper of the Yekaterinburg Ural? in his youth he showed great hopes, and his talent was often compared with the game of the legendary Lev Yashin. The goalkeeper was not able to fully open, however, he retained the title of reliable gate guard.
Carier start
Zabolotny Nikolay Archilovich was born on April 16, 1990 in Leningrad. From the age of 7 he began to play football in local schools - “Change” and “Zenith”, however, at the age of 15 he decided to continue his studies in Moscow, where he entered the “Academician”. At the age of 17, having received an offer from his native club - St. Petersburg “Zenith”, he signed a contract and performed in the youth team for three seasons. During this time, Zabolotny Nikolai 50 times appeared at the gates in official meetings and in 2009, becoming the champion of Russia among youth teams, he decided to move to another club.
Spartak beginning
The new home for the goalkeeper was the Moscow “Spartak”. Zabolotny Nikolai, quickly becoming a player in the starting lineup, spent a confident season, having again won the championship gold, after which he began to be involved in the games of the main team. The official debut of the young Russian took place in the spring of 2011, when, due to health problems of the first issue of the “red-white” Andrei Dikan , Zabolotny was entrusted with the gate for the away game against the Kuban. But Nikolai did not succeed in the first match in the Premier League - the meeting ended in a victory for Krasnodar - 3: 1. During the season, Zabolotny Nikolai went on the field 6 more times with Spartak and on April 24 in the game against the club of the same name from Nalchik held the first “dry” match.
Rental Lease
The second or third goalkeeper of the team did not suit Nikolai, and the coaching staff did not trust him with the position of the main old-timer. And in search of playing practice, the goalkeeper in the summer of 2012 went to Rostov on loan. But the football player failed to achieve regular entry onto the field - during the year in the Rostov club he played only twice, defending “to zero” in the championship, having dried up the attack of “Mordovia” (2: 0) and having contributed to the victory in the Russian Cup over “Astrakhan” ( 3: 1).
Unhappy with this situation, Nikolai Zabolotny returned to the Moscow club, where he agreed to an annual lease to the second team - Spartak-2. The arm club of the capital's team gave the goalkeeper the opportunity to prove himself, but Nikolai rarely appeared on the field for the season. As a result, 9 matches were played in the starting lineup and 13 goals conceded.
Parish in Ural
Deciding to radically change his residence permit, in early 2014 Nikolai Zabolotny signed a 2.5-year contract with Ural, leaving Spartak as a free agent. The goalkeeper immediately began playing in the Yekaterinburg club - his first appearance in the Bumblebee T-shirt took place on March 8th. The debut match, held in Krasnodar against the local team of the same name, ended for Nikolai with the first “cracker" - 0: 1.
A confident game at the gate allowed Zabolotny to continuously be the number one goalkeeper in the team for more than a year. But at the beginning of the 2015/2016 season, the Russian was injured, because of which he was forced to miss almost six months. Return to the field took place on March 7, 2016 - as always the confident play of the goalkeeper helped “Ural” to take a point in a home meeting with the capital “Dynamo” - 1: 1. According to the results of three years, Nicholas already has more than 65 official meetings in the “bumblebees”, of which 17 he played “to zero”. Every year the game of the goalkeeper progresses, and we can safely expect that soon Zabolotny will again be talked about as one of the best Russian goalkeepers.