[Sport] Fyodor Cherenkov: The Soviet football genius the world never got to see By Michael Yokhin

[#Hassan.]

 

 

 

"They're trying to poison us!" Fyodor Cherenkov screamed as he refused to eat the soup.

His Spartak Moscow team-mates, alongside him in the dining room, were stunned. It was March 1984, and they were preparing for the return leg of a Uefa Cup quarter-final against Anderlecht, taking place in Tbilisi because of cold weather in the Soviet capital.

The Belgians had won the first leg in Brussels 4-2, but Spartak fancied their chances. They had a brilliant team, the best in a generation. But now something wasn't right with their star player.

Just four months previously, Cherenkov had shone on the European stage, scoring twice - including a dramatic last-minute winner - as Spartak eliminated Aston Villa.

According to reports, Villa were so impressed they attempted to sign the 24-year-old midfielder. They would have known all too well the Soviet establishment would never allow their footballers - let alone major figures such as Cherenkov - to move to the West.

Overall, 1983 had been a phenomenal year for Cherenkov. Undeniably the best footballer in the country, he won the Soviet Union's player of the year award, even though Spartak finished second in the league. He was an important figure for the national team too, and scored twice in a 5-0 demolition of Portugal in qualifying for the European Championship.

That rise brought new levels of pressure.

"The psychological burden on him was probably too heavy," says Sergey Rodionov, Spartak's star striker of the 1980s, and Cherenkov's closest friend.

Those who witnessed the frightening scenes in Tbilisi don't like to talk about them. Cherenkov experienced hallucinations, visions of imaginary dangers, and even attempted to jump out of a hotel window.

Spartak coach Konstantin Beskov knew he wouldn't be able to play against Anderlecht. Cherenkov didn't understand why he was dropped.

Rodionov scored a late goal in a 1-0 win, but it wasn't enough and Spartak went out 4-3 on aggregate. But defeat was the last thing on the players' minds.

Cherenkov's health worried them. Upon returning to Moscow, he was immediately taken to hospital, and only returned to the pitch in June.

What was he suffering from? Nobody knows for sure, but it didn't go away, and visits to hospital became frequent. It would shape the rest of his career, and be part of his life until the very end.

"Fyodor had periods of depression and stress, but we never fully understood the nature of those problems. Geniuses can't be diagnosed. We can only guess," Rodionov says.

That word - genius - is universally used by those who saw Cherenkov play, and especially by those lucky enough to be his team-mates.