Absolutely everyone who is interested in football knows who Alexander Mostovoy is. He is a great person in the world of sports. He is one of the best players in the history of the Russian team. He has many club, team and personal achievements. How did his career begin? This should be told now.
early years
Alexander Mostovoy was born in the city of Lomonosov (Leningrad Region) in 1968, on August 22. There, his father was in military service. When the boy was 3 years old, the whole family moved to Lobnya - a city in the suburbs. There, Alexander’s father played football, and his mother worked as a hairdresser.
Passion for sport was inherited by the boy. Vladimir Mostovoy, his father, played for Ostankino, so there was a living role model in front of him. At an early age he was sent to the football academy of CSKA, where the boy went from the Moscow region several times a week.
Coaches immediately appreciated his talent. They wanted to identify the young man in the main team, but Yuri Morozov, who was training the team at that time, refused him. And so the young man began to play in FC Krasnaya Presnya, which was led by Oleg Romantsev.
For the incomplete season of 1986, Alexander Mostovoy played 19 matches and scored 7 goals.
Going to Spartak
The football player did not want to go to this club. Alexander was happy with everything at Presnya - they trusted him there, he did everything right. He did not understand why Spartak was needed - a large, serious, titled club.
Alexander Mostovoy thought he would become superfluous there. He says that he even ran away several times. Especially as a child, he was a fan of Dynamo, and studied at the CSKA school. Therefore, the invitation from Konstantin Beskov was not immediately accepted.
But still, in the summer of 1987, he joined Spartak. He played his first match on June 7th - it was a game against FC Kairat at Dynamo Stadium. He was released to replace 15 minutes before the end of the meeting.
Career at Spartak
For the entire time of the game in the Moscow club, football player Alexander Mostovoy entered the field in 106 matches of the USSR championship, and also scored 34 goals in these meetings.
He sent his first ball into the goal of Donetsk Shakhtar. Then he scored Dynamo, Zenit, Neftchi and Zalgiris. For a 19-year-old guy, the performance was excellent. At the end of the season he was recognized as the best young football player.
Contrary to his expectations, Alexander got used to the team quickly. As soon as he began to show the result, the authorities of CSKA became agitated and decided to return the player back. But “Spartak” refused, in response received a threat: if Mostovoy is not returned, then they can “accidentally” take him into the army.
But that did not happen. In the first season, Alexander, together with Spartak won the championship, and still showed himself well in the UEFA Cup. He took a double in a match with Dynamo Dresden, helped beat Bremen's Werder Bremen.
The 1988/89 season was more challenging for Spartak. Alexander Mostovoy played 27 matches and scored only 3 goals. In general, the team lost ground a bit, there was tension between the head coach and the players playing for the club for a long time.
In 1989, Spartak became the champion again. But the next season was more successful. He had the best goals of Alexander Mostovoy - a hat-trick against the Daugava, a penalty in games against Dynamo and Olympic.
In his last season, the football player held 27 meetings and scored 13 goals.
Relocation to Portugal
In December 1991, Alexander signed a contract with FC Benfica. There he spent almost two seasons, having played only 9 matches during this time. This period was the most unfortunate in his career.
Alexander did not score a single goal in the championship. But in the Portuguese Cup scored. It was he who owned the most beautiful goal sent to the Porto goal in the 1/8 finals of the tournament. He also hit the gate of FC Amora in .
Alexander said that he was surprised by the professionalism of the club. Then, as a young man, he was amazed that he did not need to wash and iron his uniform on his own, to clean his boots. The staff does everything, the football player only needs to train.
There were two more Russian players in Benfica - Sergey Juran and Vasily Kulkov. All three were treated badly, because they came to capitalism from communism. For a place in the composition had to almost bite the ground.
But here about Sven-Eran Ericsson, who then coached Benfica, left a good impression. Alexander Mostovoy said that he was a calm, sensible, intelligent person, different from other mentors in his approach and character. But Tomislav Ivich who replaced him, as Mostovoy said, was almost with a bullet in his head.
Career in France
Continuing the story about the biography of Alexander Mostovoy and his career, it should be noted that he spent the pre-season training in 1993/94 at Benfica, but then received an offer from FC Kan. Paulo Barbosa was waiting for the player to agree to move to France. He did not refuse, even if Kan was inferior to Benfica in status.
The French club saw in Mostovoy almost a "rescuer". However, he turned out to be him. Alexander didn’t help “pull” the club from the penultimate place - he brought him to the middle of the standings. “Kan” did not fly to the lower division because of him.
Then Mostov became interested in FC Strasbourg. Daniel Jandyupe, who trained this team, persuaded Alexander to join them. In the national championship alone for 2 seasons, he spent 61 games and scored 15 goals. Together with Strasbourg, he became the winner of the Intertoto Cup and the finalist of the French Cup.
Relocation to Spain
In 1996, Mostovoy received an offer from Celta. He agreed, and it turned out to be the club where he spent the most time - as much as 8 years. During this time, he played 249 matches in the Example and scored 64 goals.
It was in Celta that Alexander's talent was fully revealed. He became one of the first Russian football players to be appointed captain of a foreign team. Mostovoy was so fond of fans that in 2001 they began to raise funds for the manufacture of a monument dedicated to him.
Interestingly, Alexandra tried to buy Real Madrid, Liverpool, and Juventus from Celta. But in the end it did not work out. Mostovoi admits that she regrets the experience she has not received. For 8 years with Celta, he won the Intertoto Cup and the Spanish Cup.
Then, having played one match for the Alaves club in 2005, he ended his career.
In the national team
Alexander Mostovoy has been playing for the national team since 1990. At first it was the USSR national team, where he spent 2 years, played 13 matches and scored 3 goals. Then he held 2 meetings for the CIS national team in 1992.
And then he played for the Russian team. He spent 14 years in it, spent 50 matches and scored 10 goals.
Often Alexander showed himself in the team as a leader who is really capable of bringing results. But in 1997 he was accused of a weak game. Because in the match with the Cyprus national team did not hit the gate, being at the most advantageous point. Because of this, he was not called to the decisive matches of the qualifying round.
He also failed to participate in the games of the World Cup, held in 2002. But it was due to injury. And he did not play in Euro 2004 - he was expelled for criticizing George Yartsev, head coach.
If we talk about achievements, we can note the fact that in 1990 the Russian team, in which Mostovoy played, became the European champion among youth teams.
Personal life of Alexander Mostovoy
In 1991, the footballer received an invitation to Benfica. But only in those days, in order to play in a foreign club, you had to get a lot of permits, fill in a lot of papers. Therefore, Alexander simply married a Portuguese citizen. The marriage was fictitious - Mostovoi said he had never even seen his wife.
But it didn’t work out with Benfica, and therefore there was a divorce. Then Alexander married for love - the Frenchwoman Stephanie, whom he met in Strasbourg. In 1996, they had a son. He was also called Alexander.
Less than a year later, Mostovoi signed a contract with Celta, so the family moved to Spain. Alexander says that his son is French in the passport, and his mentality is Spaniard. Three years after his birth, the couple gave birth to a girl Emma. After some time, Alexander and Stephanie divorced. Mostovoi returned to Russia. Children stayed with their mother in Marbella.
The son of Alexander Mostovoy also plays football. He was on the screening of Celta, but has not yet begun a professional career. By the way, a French-Spanish young man speaks Russian well. And he is a fan of Barcelona. Neither he nor Emma have been to Russia yet, but Mostovoi wants his children to once see his father’s homeland.
Current activity
What is Alexander Mostovoy doing now? He often speaks on radio and television with comments about football, and expresses his personal opinion on sports internet portals. His name appears regularly in the news. And journalists themselves often turn to the legendary footballer to take a comment on a particular occasion.
Recently, for example, he talked about his hope for the growth of Spartak and an improvement in its performance in the championship. Mostovoi shared: it seems to him that a certain imbalance reigns in the team, both in terms of relations and in terms of the game.
He says that Massimo Carrera is “shuffling” the squad, sending some of the players to the bench. At first, this tactic yielded results, but in European competitions it is not. Alexander hopes that Spartak will soon begin to fight the way he knows how.
Mostovoi also regrets the departure of Quincy Promes - the most productive legionnaire of the Moscow club. This is a really sensitive loss for Spartak. And Mostovoi regretted that the lack of his skill seriously affects the game of the club.