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Lev Yashin        

Football is one of the most popular sports games on the planet. Whatever country you live in, there are lots of football fans around you — friends, colleagues and neighbours. People treat football players as real celebrities and remember them long after the end of their career.

The most famous goalkeeper in the world is Lev Yashin. There is not a football player or a football fan who does not know this name. Lev Yashin was born in Moscow, in 1929. His parents worked long hours. Like most children, Lev spent a lot of time in the yard. Football was the favourite game — all the boys were involved in it. They did not have any coaches — all the adults, parents included, did not have time for training them. A proper ball was a thing of luxury but it did not stop the passionate football players. They were very inventive and were able to turn almost any object (like a heap of old clothes or an old bucket into a ball-to play with.  

When the Great Patriotic War broke out, the plant where the Yashins worked was relocated to Ulyanovsk. The family went there too to reconstruct the plant. Lev had to take care of his younger brother and work. At the age of 13, he worked at the plant together with his parents.

In 1945, the family came back to Moscow. Lev went on working and attended evening classes to complete his education. Soon he was noticed by football coaches and invited to the Dynamo team.

At first, Yashin was kept in reserve. He was tall and looked rather awkward on the pitch. But his goalkeeper skills were amazing and he kept developing them. He fixed the instructions of his coach and the schemes of each game in his notebook.

In fact, along with being a talented football player, Lev Yashin played hockey at a very high level. In the early 1950s, he was a candidate for the national hockey team but decided to focus on football.

As a goalkeeper, Lev Yashin worked out his own technique which enabled him to control every part of the goal area. Another of his innovations was playing not only with his hands but with his feet too! He also suggested batting the ball instead of catching it. He used his acrobatic skills and played in a new innovative way. He always wore a black outfit and a flat cap though the other players of the team had a uniform in two colours. In contrast to his playing, Yashin was very conservative with his clothes.

Because of his flexibility the Russian goalkeeper was called Black Panther and Black Spider. His fast and brisk movements in the goal reminded people of the way these animals move. He had a habit of coming out of the goal area to start an attack, which no goalkeepers had done before.

Lev Yashin and his team won many national and world championships. He had the official international status of the best goalkeeper of the 20‘ century: