Ruslan Nigmatullin, former goalkeeper of Lokomotiv Moscow and the Russian national team, said in a comment: “Championship” I talked about my feelings after watching the TV series “The Boy’s Word”.
“Everything in Kazan was as shown in the TV series. I dived into the nightmare of my childhood. In the language of this series, I was among the chushpans because I had long hair and played football. Everything that was happening was foreign to me. No matter how they tried to pull me somewhere, I resisted in every possible way and dreamed of leaving Kazan, the worst city of that time.
It’s great that the city has found the strength and resources to change everything. Kazan has changed since the 21st century and is now one of the most beautiful cities. No clue what happened then. But at that time I was dreaming of leaving. First I moved to Chelny, which of course wasn’t very good there. “When I was 20, I moved to Moscow and escaped from this hell,” said the former football player.
In addition to Lokomotiv, the goalkeeper also played for Russian Spartak, CSKA, Terek (now Akhmat), Italian Salernitana and Verona and Israeli Maccabi Ahi. The goalkeeper played 24 matches with the Russian national team and conceded nine goals in these matches.
Nigmatullin is a three-time Russian champion and two-time winner of the National Cup. Five times he was among the top 33 football players at the Russian Championship, and in 2001 he became the country’s best athlete.
Previously Zenit named “Non-Russian” team.