“Stop looking for excuses. There is trouble in Russian football” – Mostovoy
This year may have become the worst in the history of Russian football.
The former leader of the Russian national football team, ex-player of Moscow Spartak and Spanish Celta Alexander Mostovoy stated this and the prospects, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports, in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
“There is a problem in our football. We must say frankly that we failed. Look how many teams there were in the European Cups, and only one [Krasnodar] was able to reach the playoffs. And then – the Europa League. And everyone else could never even win. This is probably the worst year in the history of Russian football. We need to stop looking for excuses and admit: everything is bad,” Mostovoy said.
He also criticized the team's performance.
“The team also distinguished itself.” A series of matches without victories, failure to qualify from the Nations League group is not the result we expected. You need to admit your mistakes and build on it,” says the ex-footballer.
In turn, the publication drew attention to the fact that Russian clubs are losing not only to German and Italian, but also to Austrian, Belgian, Georgian, and Israeli.
“This is our level. Again: we must honestly admit everything and not be offended,” the athlete emphasized.
He believes that Russian football is overrated.
“We have artificially created stars. Well, a person shouldn’t play in the Russian championship and get huge money. If he earns that much, he should score 30 goals a season.
I gave an example earlier: David Villa played for Valencia and received several times less. And he scored 35 goals, and then moved to Barcelona, became the world and European champion. And I can name about a dozen such football players from Europe. What do we have? An ordinary midfielder in the Russian championship scores 3-4 goals and earns several times more than in strong championships. This is wrong.
I don’t blame them for anything; I wouldn’t refuse this myself either. If they wanted to progress and not just be average players, they need to go to Europe. And not just to be on the team, but to prove it. As Shalimov, Kiryakov, Kanchelskis, Kolyvanov, Karpin, Mostovoy proved at one time. Then we will have development..,” Mostovoy summed up.
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