Alekxandr Mostovoi (8-22-1968, 53 years old, Lomonosov, Saint Petersburg, Russia) was one of the classiest and most controversial footballers who played in the Spanish League in the late 90s and early 2000s and undoubtedly still today day, he is one of the idols of the Celta fans. He has given an interview to AS in which he reviews the best episodes of his sports career and tells what happened after until now.
How long without hearing from you! What does Alekxandr Mostovoi do now?
Hello, I live in Moscow and I am trying to do things for Russian football and I collaborate for the television ‘Match Tv Russia’.
Already in Spain, when he retired he also collaborated in Marbella. How did that come about?
Well, Alexander Grinberg bought the Marbella and asked me to help them, to advise them to make the Marbella grow, but, come on, I didn’t charge a single euro.
Why didn’t you continue to be linked to football by hanging up your boots, didn’t the idea of being a coach or sports director appeal to you?
Yes I was attracted to it, I have always wanted to be there, but for many I am a very uncomfortable person …
Uncomfortable?
Yes, because I know football well, I have been a good footballer, I have my character and some people would not like to have a person like me by their side. In Russia they ask me ‘Alex, why don’t you want to be a coach?’ I do, but nobody calls me. Before there were people by my side who claimed to be my friends, I helped them, but now it is not the other way around.
“I want to be a coach, but nobody calls me …”
But does he have the title of coach?
No. But in Russia there are many people who do not have the title of coach and yet they are in football. I always wonder: how is it possible that there are people in football who have never played? I do not understand…
But in Russia can you train without having the title?
Yes. They take a piece of paper from you and while they are leading a team, you study. For example, Karpin, my former teammate at Celta and in the national team. He never wanted to be a coach, he started like that and look at the career he has, being a coach now. And like him, many others.
Let’s go with his career: after training and succeeding at Spartak Moscow, you left the former Soviet Union for Portugal (Benfica), then went to play for France (Caen and Strasbourg) and signed in 1996 for Celta. Why Spain and why Celta?
I never thought of going to Spain, I felt good at Strasbourg, I also had a long contract. I played the European Championship in England with Russia, we fell in the first round, but I performed at a good level and I received offers from German, English and Italian teams. I was pondering whether to continue in France, despite the fact that the president did not comply with what he told me months before improving my contract, or leaving, above all, to Germany, and when there were a few days until the closing of the market that summer, representatives arrived Celta, very interested, an agreement was reached and I went to Spain.
Did you also have offers from other Spanish clubs?
No, only from Celta.
“I never thought of going to play in Spain”
In La Liga and at Celta he left an indelible mark, but do you think his somewhat rebellious character has prevented him from reaching higher in football?
No. I am very proud to arrive in football where I have arrived. At the age of 18 I was champion of the Soviet Union with Spartak Moscow and the best young player and at 20 I had reached the highest levels in football in my country. What would I have liked to get more titles? Yes, of course, but I am very satisfied with my career.
I understand that his first year at Celta was very difficult.
It was, like my senior year. When I arrived in Vigo, it turned out that when I saw the contract there were different things from what they told me when it was negotiated with Strasbourg. I asked and they said “we’ll change it, don’t worry …”. Then, the first day I go to train, the training ground was a calamity, there was no hot water, no proper locker room … apart from how the team played …
Did you ever think about leaving?
Sure and I looked for a way out.
Did that discomfort you had cause, among other things, that incident in the Sporting field in which you left the field and colleagues like Patxi Salinas convinced you to return?
Yes. I was having a bad time in that game, because I was not comfortable, I also had discomfort and wanted to leave with ten minutes to go, but the team had already made all the changes. Some colleagues forced me to return to the field. Afterwards, they took me off the team for a few days and gave me a fine. I was wrong and asked for forgiveness.
“My first and last years at Celta were horrible. They ended up owing me money that I never collected”
And what happened to keep him going, because he spent eight years at Celta?
Because the following season many things changed, there were improvements in the Ciudad Deportiva, signings arrived and the team began to play better and we had great years, I think the best in the history of the club.
You became a reference in Celta in those years. Were big clubs interested in Mostovoi?
Yes, but they were only words, I was already 30 years old, I had two children and I was very happy in Vigo at that time, because the fans loved me, and that is not bought, and the club did not want to let me go, they asked for a lot of money for me, and I didn’t force myself out.
Who is the coach with whom you have had the most affinity?
With Oleg Romantsev, who gave me the opportunity first at a Second Division club in my country when I was 16 years old and later at Spartak Moscow, when I was 17, and with whom I coincided in the national team; and at Celta, with Víctor, because I was with him for four years.
He has commented that your last year at Celta was also difficult. In fact, the team went down, you and many other players left. Is it true that the club owed you a lot of money that you never collected?
It’s true. That 2003-04 season we entered the Champions League, but things didn’t work out. In fact, as you say, the team ended up going down. I had renewed one more year, for 2004-05, but when relegation, many players left, forgiving money and I, who was already 35 years old, on my way to 36, had to do it too. We pushed for them to pay me that year of contract that I signed, but there was no way.
“I don’t understand why Luis Enique doesn’t call Iago Aspas. He’s one of the best in Spain and in Europe”
Theoretically, after Celta he hung up his boots, but months later he returned to Spain to play for Alavés. Why?
That year 2004 everything happened to me: the mess in Vigo, then with the national team I also ended after they expelled me from the concentration in the European Championship in Portugal, I had family problems and I went to Moscow almost to hide. But every so often I received calls asking me why I didn’t want to play anymore, to cheer me up, that I was still in for football. And then in March 2005 Piterman called me, who was the owner of Alavés at the time, he convinced me and signed me for a few months, to help the team move up to First Division. But between the time I had to get in shape and I didn’t adapt to the city or the team, I only played one game (against Cádiz, and he scored a goal) and, at the end, when I got to the locker room, I said I wasn’t doing it, that I I was going. And that’s where my career as a footballer ended.
Do you regret anything in your football career?
Well, look, when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, a lot of young footballers left to play abroad. I went to Benfica, which is a great in Europe, but there I feel like I wasted my time, especially the second year, in which I played very little because there were many foreigners and they could only play three. I lost two and a half years of my football life in Portugal.
Listen, you were a reference in Celta as Iago Aspas is in recent years. Do you understand that Luis Enrique, who started with him in the National Team, would not take him to the Eurocup or later?
I do not understand. I have always said that he is an impressive player, one of the best in Spain and in Europe. I have always defended him, since he missed the penalty against Russia in the World Cup in my country in 2018 when he was unfairly criticized. I don’t know why Luis Enrique doesn’t call him.
In today’s football, who reminds you of Mostovoi?
I do not know, the figure of 10 is not so marked, except Messi. Before there were Del Piero, Totti, Zidane, Matthäus … Maybe now Modric.
If you could sign one, who would you choose, Mbappé or Haaland?
To both of you, hahahahahaha! But if it were only one, to Mbappé.
And who do you think deserves the Ballon d’Or: Benzema, Lewandowski, Messi, Jorginho…?
For me Messi is the best in the world, but Lewandowski deserves it, because every year he scores a lot of goals.
Thank you.
To AS for remembering me.