October 22 – The Man in Black | On This Football Day

October 22 – The Man in Black

SO who’s the greatest goalkeeper ever to play the game? Schmeichel? No, his nose was too red and he was rubbish on Strictly Come Dancing. Dino Zoff or Gianluigi Buffon? Nope, even you’d look good behind those Italian defences. Our vote goes to the Russian Lev Yashin who was born today in 1929.

Nicknamed the Black Spider, after his penchant for wearing an all-black kit and seeming to have eight legs to stop the ball with, Yashin ticked all the boxes that a great keeper should. His imposing physique, supreme athleticism and lightening reflexes meant that he is the only keeper ever to win the European Footballer of the Year award, back in 1963.

Yashin’s story is a textbook rags to riches tale. In 1942 a young Yashin got involved with the war effort, helping out in a metal workshop. By the end of the decade he was snapped up by his local club, Dynamo Moscow, but couldn’t force his way past ‘Tiger’ Khomich, Dynamo’s legandary keeper. This meant that he turned his attention to the Dynamo ice hockey team, winning a couple of USSR ice hockey cups before the football bosses cottoned on to his talents.

Once he got in the team, Yashin set about making history between the sticks. His career statistics are freakishly good – in 812 games he managed 270 cleans sheets and saved over 150 penalties. Not too shabby. His personal trophy cabinet reflected this, with five league titles and three USSR Cups for Dynamo, whilst also picking up an Olympic Gold Medal and a European Championship for the Soviets.

His commitment for his country lead to Yashin being rewarded with the Order of Lenin, the second highest award that the Politburo could give out. Summing up his patriotism, he said that “the joy of seeing Yuri Gagarin flying in space is only superseded by the joy of a good penalty save.” What he’d have made of Paul Robinson’s performance in Moscow last week is anybody’s guess.

Tomorrow we’ll look back at a star-studded night at the old Wembley Stadium, but in the meantime check out a few wonder-saves from the Black Spider.