An old football proverb says: “The goalkeeper is half the team.” In fact, it’s not so easy to find a really good goalkeeper who, with his game, would lead the team to the finals of various cups. Despite this, there is always a goalkeeper in the frame of the gates of football giants, both Russian and world, on which the coach and the whole team can rely. This article will tell the life story of one of the greatest goalkeepers of CSKA of the 21st century - Veniamin Mandrykina.
Veniamin Anatolyevich Mandrykin: athlete biography
“Football was his life, although no one thought he would become a professional,” his father recalls his son’s first steps on the football field.
The future goalkeeper Veniamin Mandrykin was born in Orenburg, but because of the forced move to Vladikavkaz, he began his career there. He spent his first classes at the Yunost sports school, where he played as a center forward, but, as is often the case in youth football, he was transferred to the goalkeeper position due to the high anthropometry of the body.
By the age of 15, his growth reached 186 centimeters, which, of course, gave him an advantage in competition with his peers. At that time, even Veniamin Mandrykin himself did not consider his hobby as something serious, and therefore in 1993 he left his native sports school, enrolling in a higher educational institution. The young man's doubts in his abilities were so strong that he was forced to leave his beloved business and plunge into everyday life.
Mandrykin Veniamin Anatolyevich: football is his fate
Even taking into account the fact that he had already managed to say goodbye to his dreams of football, Benjamin accepted the invitation of the head coach of the sports school “Spartak” (which is now called “Alania”) and went with this team to the youth tournament. It took place in the USA. No matter how strange it may sound, “Spartak” won quite strong teams in that tournament, thanks to which Benjamin Mandrykin decided to continue playing football.
At the youth level, the goalkeeper managed to impress many coaches of the clubs of the top division of the championship of Russia, but of all the offers he chose “Alania”, which at that time was trained not by anyone, but by Valery Gazaev. It was this transition and the game for the Vladikavkaz club that made it to those who are known to football fans. As the saying goes: "Everything that is done is for the better."
Period in Alanya
Going to the local team in 1997 from the city where he played, the goalkeeper made a very good choice. Valery Gazaev, who at that time coached the team, is primarily famous for his trust in young soccer players, which was a huge plus for such a newcomer as Mandrykin Veniamin Anatolyevich.
By the way, he belongs to the very stars that the Russian coach discovered by working in different teams. That is, Mandrykin can be put on a par with football players of such caliber as Andrei Yarmolenko, who is hunted by top clubs of the English Premier League, Denis Garmash, who is the main midfielder of the Ukrainian champions - Dynamo Kyiv.
We can say that Valery Georgievich gave the athlete the very ticket to the “big football”. For three consecutive seasons, it was safe to say that Mandrykin Venimamin Anatolyevich was goalkeeper number 2. His predecessor, Zaur Khapov , was very experienced and, of course, wanted to play at a high level for a couple of years, but was injured and lost his place in the goal frame. young Benjamin. Having played the season, regularly leaving the starting lineup of the Vladikavkaz “Alania”, Mandrykin goes to the capital's club.
Transition to CSKA
Probably, Valery Gazaev can already be called the football father of Mandrykin, since it was he who led the goalkeeper to the club, which after that more than once became the champion of Russia, regularly speaking in the most prestigious club tournament in Europe - the Champions League.
To say that the performances for the army team were very successful is to say nothing. The young goalkeeper won the competition not against anyone, but against the legend of Russian football - Ruslan Nigmatulin. Unfortunately, such a performance on a major note did not last long, and at the end of the 2002-2003 season Mandrikin Veniamin was injured, which pushed the goalkeeper's chances of successful competition quite far.
This, by the way, was not the worst news - it was worse that Valery Gazaev found a new junior favorite, the name of which every football fan now knows: Igor Akinfeev.
It is difficult to be Igor Akinfeev's successor
It is not easy to fight for a place in the starting lineup if your competitor for a place is Igor Akinfeev himself (although at that time he was not so great). Until recently, CSKA, entering the match, entered the name Veniamin Mandrykin into the application. The Russian Championship admired the game of this goalkeeper, and he even managed to play 2 matches for the Russian team, given that Vyacheslav Malafeev was the main goalkeeper of the Russians for a long time.
Time passed, and the goalkeeper's football prowess did not grow, as he did not receive proper playing practice. We can say that the fact of the game in the great club, which had huge competition for each position, and knocked down Mandrykin, who is already not always too confident in himself.
This lowering of hands, of course, did not lead to anything good, and thus the once excellent goalkeeper sat firmly on the bench until 2008. In addition, you need to remember the moment that CSKA refused to sell Mandrykin to Rubin, despite the fact that even the leadership was skeptical about the prospects of the goalkeeper in the army club.
Rental Travel
Such a sitting on the bench and a vague future forced both the player and the club management to look for ways out of the situation. It is clear that they could not give him more playing time, since Akinfeev honestly won the competition and was ready to play not just in every match, but for an additional game per week. This situation led to the decision to send Veniamin Mandrykin for rent. This would give him the opportunity to get enough playing practice, grow stronger and return to defend the colors of the army club.
Mandrikin Veniamin Anatolevich received his first rental experience in 2008, when he moved to Tomsk Tomsk. In this club, the goalkeeper immediately became the main one, which had not happened so long in his career, filled with stories by which you can make films in the drama genre.
Personal life
The personal life of the famous goalkeeper of Moscow CSKA is a topic for serious discussion. You can not call Benjamin an exemplary family man. So, in 2008, his wife Diana followed her husband to Tomsk, but already in 2009 the goalkeeper appeared in public in the company of a completely different lady - Maria Shuravina.
According to some sources close to the family, the five-year-old son of Mary already called the footballer dad. And based on this information, we can say that this novel lasted during the marriage between Diana and Benjamin.
In 2010, Veniamin Mandrykin divorced his wife, and a couple of months later he planned a wedding for Maria. The newly made bride had known Venia for a long time, because her apartment was only one floor above.
Fatal accident
There was a short break in the championship, and the president of Dynamo (Bryansk) gave his players a break, declaring a day off for 4 days - an unprecedented luxury for professional football. None of the player’s entourage can now answer the question of why he didn’t get home to Moscow. The road from Bryansk would take no more than three hours by car.
It is not known whether Benjamin Mandrykin violated the regime, whether he drank, but everyone says only positive things about him, calling him a professional with a capital letter. It is difficult to say what happened to the player on that terrible night from November 9 to 10.
According to the traffic police protocol, the football player’s car did not stop at the request of the patrolman, because of which the persecution began, from which Mandrykin was hiding. The speed was significantly exceeded, and, having lost control, the player flew into a ditch from the road and crashed straight into a tree.
The injuries turned out to be very serious and, at first glance, incompatible with life. The next morning, all the media buzzed that Veniamin Mandrykin was taken to the hospital, the player’s condition was very serious. Many suggested that the player was drunk, and that is why this accident happened, but the blood test denied it - nothing forbidden was found in the player’s blood. That is why to date, the causes of this accident remain a mystery.
Support Above All
The first match of the next season, the players of the Bryansk Dynamo came out in T-shirts with inscriptions in support of the player of their team. In addition, the recovery of the football player to this day is financed by the football club "CSKA", which is respected. Doctors said that Mandrykin Veniamin Anatolevich - the goalkeeper with a capital letter - will not be able to play football anymore, and God grant that he can walk, but time will tell. In the meantime, one can only hope that with the goalkeeper known in the past, who has many merits and awards, everything will be fine, and he will be corrected soon.