Tiraspol, December 10. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. Legendary football player Igor Belanov arrived in Pridnestrovie on the International Football Day. He also brought in Tiraspol his main trophy – Ballon d'Or. At a press conference, Igor Belanov said that he tried to show it to many people, first of all, children.
“I want them to see and understand that we haven't come down from heaven. I am just like everyone else. Growth – 1.74. And what? We were ordinary children, we dreamed to achieve something in life,” Igor Belanov shared.
The football player said that he was fond of football since childhood. His mom said that even in diapers he seemed to hit the ball. According to Igor Belanov, conditions of training in his childhood were much tougher compared to modern children. He became a great football player, playing on concrete roads in his native Odessa, on Moldavanka.
“We had injuries on the knees. We dreamed to achieve something. When I got older, I wanted to leave something to my children. You can't just play football. It wasn't interesting to me. We were very ambitious. In addition, we were ashamed to lose in front of our fans. For us it was a blow. Each of us was confident not only in himself but also in the team,” the football player recalls.
Igor Belanov's football career was not easy to build. When he turned 16, his father died. The young man had to support his family.
“Yes, I worked as a watchman and finished college. It was heavy. Moreover, Moldavanka – the district I lived – was rather dangerous: both bandits and drug addicts. I was saved from such life by football,” the legend admits.
Igor Belanov played under the leadership of one of the greatest trainers, Valery Lobanovsky. The football player shared that they had felt great responsibility at every game because the trainer had never given them rest.
“He didn't have favorites. There was only a team. Valery Vasilevich never showed that you had been the best or something like that. We lost 4 kg a game. The trainer didn't let us relax. It is very important,” - the athlete shared.
Speaking with regret, Igor Belanov noted that youth do not understand this. In his opinion, the formation of football players is hampered now, mostly by gadgets.
“We didn't have that and we played. We didn't have the same conditions as we do now. I saw today that you have a huge potential for the development of football. It is fantastic! So many fields, so much have been done for children! It is necessary to leave children without phones and computers, make them engaged in sports since childhood. They should dream to achieve something, not to be forced by parents,” the football player declared at the end of the meeting.
Igor Belanov played in the position of the attacker. He is one of the top 100 best football players in the history of the World Cups by The Guardian, vice-champion of Europe 1988. He is the only Soviet footballer to score three goals in one match of the final stage of the World Cup. In total, he scored 131 goals during his career.
His main advantage is the most powerful blow from both legs, the highest starting and remote speed, sharp change of pace and direction of movement. All these qualities made Igor Belanov one of Europe's brightest attackers of the second half of the 1980s. He also famous as a fine penalty. In the whole career, there were only two cases when Belanov didn't score penalty.
He is the Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, the International Class Master of Sports. He was awarded Orders of Merit of the I, II, III degrees.
