Former Russian international and Spartak Moscow champion Ilya Tsymbalar has died of a suspected heart attack at the age of 44 after a glittering career that saw him crowned the country's top player.
Russia's Rossiyskaya Gazeta government daily said the diminutive midfielder died on Saturday evening of heart disease.
"Tsymbalar had a reputation as the most talented player in contemporary Russian football history,"the state daily wrote on its website.
"His calling card was his elegant dribbling and his shot.
And as any leader should, Ilya often scored vital goals," Rossiyskaya Gazeta said.
Tsymbalar was one of the stars of a glorious Spartak squad that won seven titles in the 1990s and was renowned for its skillful passing reminiscent of Lionel Messi's present Barcelona side.
The team also included the likes of central defender Yury Nikoforov and Valery Karpin -- two of the first post-Soviet stars to establish reputations in top western European leagues.
Tsymbalar scored 54 goals in 204 matches for Spartak.
He also netted the ball on four occasions in 28 caps for Russia during performances that included the 1992 World Cup in the United States and the 1996 European Championship in England.
Tsymbalar was officially recognised as the Russian league's top player on just one occasion in 1995.
But fans voted him as their national favourite on four occasions and he was hailed as one of team's greatest ever on Sunday by Spartak.
"Ilya Tsymbalar was one of the strongest players in Russian football," Spartak Moscow said on its website.
Channel One state television particularly recalled a pass Tsymbalar made to Karpin during a Euro 2000 qualifying match against France in Paris that secured Russia's 3-2 victory against the strongest team of the time.
"All of Europe broke into applause," Channel One remarked on its website.
Russia's popular television football commentator Vasily Utkin said Tsymbalar remained a hidden Russian treasure throughout his career because he decided to stick with his favourite side Spartak instead of accepting offers from England or Spain.
"In a sense, it is a shame that he never went to Europe because he had offers," Utkin told Moscow Echo radio.
Utkin said Tsymbalar's decision had probably cost him a few years of his career because players in Russia's rough-and-tumble league of the time were much more prone to injuries.
"The Russian championship was much more punishing in those days.
The league was also weaker, but what is most important is that our doctors were much worse," said the football commentator.
"They smashed your legs pretty hard in those days," Uktin said.
Tsymbalar completed his playing career in 2002 with Anzhi Makhachkala when the team had first joined the Russian Premier League after wallowing for years in the lower divisions.
He spent the past decade working as a coach for various Russian sides as well as Spartak's second squad.
Tsymbalar was born during the Soviet era in the Black Sea port city of Odessa that is now part of an independent Ukraine.
He will be buried in his native city on Monday.
Comments
Post a Comment