There is the gold medal he won at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, a medal that was shown countless times on the long, celebratory train journey home across Russia from Vladivostok. for his style of play. He has turned up to training dressed all in black, even the palms of his gloves. The opening lines of a Yevgeny Yevtushenko poem written about him read: “Now here’s a revolution in football/The goalkeeper comes rushing off his line.”. (For instance, one Lev (Leo) Tolstoy. He does not carry the Yashin name either, but he might just be able to ensure that the Yashin legacy lives on. To celebrate Yashin’s 60th birthday on 22 October 1989, Dynamo Moscow hosted a special match. Who wouldn’t enjoy the fact that here you are with me now and we’re talking about him. A friend at the factory team suggested he volunteer for military service. Lingering cigarette smoke fades slowly from the kitchen. As Puskás took out his wallet to pay the bill, Yashin was shocked: “I’ve never seen such a large amount of money in my life, let alone earned it.”. In his autobiography, Yashin wrote that his “childhood ended” at the age of 11 when he and his family arrived in Ulyanovsk, about 800km east of Moscow, chosen as a safe place to relocate the munitions factory where his father worked. “The driver said to me: ‘Did you hear about the game in London? Yashin called it his “salvation” - and his big break turned out to be just around the corner. Yashin and his family returned home. Nowadays, it’s normal – many goalkeepers, including Germany’s brilliant Manuel Neuer, play this way. Yashin was 41 when he stopped playing and, as Valentina says, “41 years is a lot”. “I can’t say there was any external pressure or expectation on me, but there was internal pressure - the weight from the fact I had such a grandfather,” he says. Over the years, we got quite a few suggestions to profile Lev Yashin, which seems to be rather strange. She is talking about her husband, one of the greatest footballers of all time. They thought it was all his fault - that it was only him who had lost the game, not the whole team. We meet on a modern, artificial turf pitch in a sports hall adjoining the stadium where his grandfather began his own career, playing for the factory team local to these northern fringes of Moscow - Tyshino. Then there was the stomach, the heart attacks, the strokes. He’s not the only one either. His leg had been amputated above the knee five years earlier after he had suffered a blood clot during a trip to Hungary. The greatest goalkeeper of them all, Lev Yashin revolutionised his position and became a hero of the Soviet Union. Our team came out on top,’” she says. Former England forward Sir Tom Finney, who died in 2014, recalled taking a penalty against him at the 1958 World Cup. He was a little gloomy sometimes. They remember it. Always dressed in a dark uniform from head to toe, he was nicknamed “Black Spider” for his flexibility and acrobatic skills. Yashin dines with Germany's Franz Beckenbauer in his and Valentina's flat. There were signs reading “Yashin retire” and “Time to get your pension”. I feel proud.”. Like many Soviet sportsmen, he didn’t enjoy the same salary compared to his European counterparts. A Russian documentary journalist wants to know whether the title of their programme should be Yashin: The Legend or Yashin: The Hero. He would fail miserably in today's game. Everywhere you look there are posters, trophies, signed footballs - a huge number of personal treasures gathered over a remarkable career. Read our article. Vasily’s grandmother, Valentina, candidly says he wasn’t good enough. He is a goalkeeper, and the goalkeeper is like the border. Korshunov is 77 years old now and speaks with feeling about his old friend. Imagine that behind you, the frontline lies in wait.”. An empire has crumbled and almost three decades have passed since Yashin’s death. Walking beyond the padded, thick front door of Valentina’s winter-proof Moscow apartment, you step back in time into a life of a footballing legend. I understood that this could make me crazy and I needed to stop because my level became lower and lower. Coaches tolerated it as Yashin’s habit did not appear to affect his performance. In 1963, he won the Ballon d’Or  – the most prestigious individual trophy in the sport, and ever since he remains the only goalkeeper to have won this award. in November 2017, when Yashin appeared on the official poster of 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™. ). But then reluctantly he rose and went back into the goal. But his memory lives on and for a few golden weeks these will be special times for the Yashin family - back in Valentina’s apartment, with the windows open and four generations of shoes stacked up by the front door. The best goalkeepers, especially Russian ones, compare themselves to Yashin – and admit that his record is hard to surpass. The best goalkeepers, especially Russian ones, compare themselves to Yashin – and admit that his record is hard to surpass. A musical comedy, its final song contains the lines: Hey, goalkeeper, get ready for battle. I was worried. Yashin is a player who has passed into legend - even though his iconic hat was stolen, lifted off his head by a pitch invader after the 1960 European Championship final and never replaced (Valentina says he simply could not get used to another), and even though his famous black top was actually a very dark blue. Six years later, he died. Yashin rose from humble beginnings, through suffering and sacrifice, to become a giant of the 20th century game, and he shone brightest during a time of extraordinary Soviet achievement. It was the mental burden he could not cope with. He’s still included in all-star teams (FIFA 2018, for instance, Yashin in its FUT ICONS team). Vasily joined Dynamo’s youth side, having started out at Torpedo Moscow because it was closer to home. It was his first major silverware - although the football version followed in October. But health was always a problem. He is the Black Panther, the Black Spider, a legend who is nowhere more real than here in this living room, where the woman he shared his life with still speaks about him in the present tense.

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