Viktor Leonenko: "For some reason, Lobanovsky thought that I was a bad influence on everyone. Sabo told him that I was a bad inf

Former Dynamo Kyiv striker Viktor Leonenko told us who he considers to be good coaches of his former team, what he disagrees with Lobanovsky about, how Dynamo beat the star team after Fomenko's arrival, and shared his opinion on other topics.

"I disagree with the fact that Lobanovsky chased Bezsonov, Zavarov, Ratz, Demyanenko a lot. They didn't need to be chased, they could easily win with their class."

- Viktor Yevhenovych, Marseille sacked Gattuso. Is this a plus or a minus for Shakhtar?

- In general, this should help Shakhtar, but it can also play a cruel joke, because, as a rule, the first game with the arrival of a new coach is won. Marseille also play at home.

Of course, I will support Shakhtar and wish them victory. But we need to see how many chances the Donetsk team will create in Marseille, and then we will draw conclusions. That is, if I manage to watch the match, as we need to hire a detective to find out where the broadcast will be.

- In your career at Dynamo, you've had a lot of coaches. Let's recall these episodes and how it affected the team.

- Specifically, I found Puzach, Onishchenko, Pavlov, Fomenko, Sabo and Lobanovsky. In four years, Dynamo has had six coaches, not particularly good in professional terms. I can only call Pavlov and Lobanovsky good.

- But you didn't really praise Lobanovsky before.

- I just don't agree with his vision of the game, but he was good for some people.

- What exactly did you not like?

- I disagree with the fact that Lobanovskyi chased Bezsonov, Zavarov, Ratz, Demyanenko a lot. They did not need to be chased, they could easily win in the class. That's why they finished so early, they couldn't play at 32, although they could easily play until 37.

"No one wanted to stand against the wall when Kuman hit us, you could go straight to the hospital"

- When Fomenko replaced Onyshchenko, Dynamo beat Barcelona 3-1. You scored a double in that match. What was the secret of your success?

- I don't see any coaching success there. Mizin was sent off for playing with his hand, we played with ten men, and we got stuck in a dead defence - we created Stalingrad at our own goal. The game was pulled out by me and the late Shkapenko. When Pasha scored the first goal, Fomenko hadn't even left the dressing room yet.

The whole team fought in this match. We were not playing, but surviving. There were no tactics: we had to be patient and wait for our moment. It was impossible to play in any other way against Barcelona. And in the second game, they scored as many goals as they wanted, winning 4-1.

Barcelona had some real stars back then - Romario, Koeman, Stoichkov, Laudrup, Baquero, Guardiola.

- How did you feel playing against such stars?

- It seems to me that if Kuman had hit the opponent's goal from his free kick, he would have scored sometimes too. I have never seen such shots, the ball flew like a bullet. I don't even know how his passes were stopped by Stoichkov and Romario. No one wanted to stand against the wall when Kuman was hitting, you could go straight to hospital.

- Did Fomenko praise you after the victory over Barcelona?

- No, he didn't. I was going to the dressing room, thinking Fomenko would praise me now, but he also gave me a shove. Fomenko didn't like our game - that we didn't do anything in attack. He must have forgotten who our opponent was.

- Why was Fomenko dismissed?

- Honestly, I don't remember anymore. Back then, a million players and coaches went through Dynamo.

"After Dynamo's exit from the Ukrainian Cup, Fomenko told us in the dressing room: "Well, are we out?". I answered him harshly: "What about you, did you stay?"

- How did Sabo's arrival come about?

- He was first the team manager, then he was appointed head coach. Nothing changed with Sabo's arrival, they all mimicked Lobanovskyi, so nothing worked.

- But your super match against Spartak (3-2) took place under Sabo, when you scored a double to give Dynamo the victory.

- I have to say thank you to the fans. When there are 100,000 in the stands, it's impossible to play badly. It used to be a shame to play badly. If I had taken second place in that Ukrainian championship, I would have been the first to say that I was not a footballer. Now they take fourth place and consider themselves great. That's why I call them Torpedo, not Dynamo. They write that they want 80 million for Shaparenko. Look at how many goals he scored and passed this season.

Returning to our topic, Sabo did not set us up for the match against Spartak in any way. At that time, the whole team wanted to remove him and appoint Demyanenko, even going to the management with this request. I remember that the co-founders of Dynamo, Medvedchuk and Surkis, called us, seven Dynamo players, and said: "Demyanenko does not want to be the head coach".

Can you imagine the atmosphere in front of Spartak when the whole team is against Sabo? And we came out and won!

- Why was Sabo so disliked?

- Because he was hysterical and always looking for someone to blame, just like Fomenko. I remember that after Dynamo's exit from the Ukrainian Cup, Fomenko told us in the dressing room: "Well, are we out?". I answered him harshly: "What about you, did you stay?". If a coach complains, he needs to look for another job.

You have to look at yourself first. I have lost count of how many Dynamo players have cut their groins. The French doctors who operated on Dynamo players must have become millionaires. Sabo blamed the injuries on the players' wives, apparently thinking that they slept a lot. But the reason was the heavy workload.

- Coming back to the match against Spartak, how did Sabo choose the team for the game?

- Before the matches, he read Sport-Express and picked the line-up that the journalists wrote. More than one person told me this, and I noticed it myself. For some reason, Sport-Express always guessed Dynamo's line-up.

- You were 0-2 down after the first half. What did Sabo say in the dressing room after you made a comeback in the second half?

- He was just silent, thinking that in the second half we would get another bag. But I scored a double and Rebrov scored the third. Sergiy and I left Sabo as head coach. If we lost to Spartak, he would have been removed from the team. I was told this a few years later.

- Sabo told me that he often caught you breaking the regime.

- It happened once. During two weeks of training camp, he found ten cans of beer. I didn't want to tell Sabo that we drank them with Prizetko, because he was young. I said that I drink one can every day. There was no place to throw away the bottles at the base, so I put them in the closet where the pillows and blankets were. I had never been drunk, so I wasn't afraid.

"Rebrov and Shevchenko learnt everything from me because I was a leader. Tell me, what can you learn from Besedin?"

- Let us recall the arrival of Lobanovsky.

- Valerii Vasylovych invited me to his house almost immediately after returning to Ukraine and said: "You will play in the squad if you score two goals in every match". I said: "Let me at least get an assist". But Lobanovskyi didn't agree. He was only interested in TDs. The requirement was 90, although Champions League strikers have much less. So even Shearer and Ronaldo would not have played for Lobanovskyi.

- It turns out that Lobanovskyi wanted to get rid of you, since he told you to score two goals in every match, which is basically impossible?

- For some reason, he thought that I had a bad influence on everyone. Sabo told him that I was cooling down the team. Let someone ask Sheva whether I taught him to smoke or not. How could I teach him to smoke if I didn't really communicate with him? We talked at the base, but in his free time he was driving his nine around Kyiv, so he didn't have time to learn to smoke.

- How did you get on with the young Rebrov and Shevchenko?

- I got on well with them. Rebrov was always in our company because he shared a room with my friend Shkapenko. I mostly saw Shevchenko at the base. I played cards and backgammon all the time because the billiards were broken, and we were not allowed to play it often because the coaching room was next door. Sheva and Rebrov did not play with us. Rebrov was always busy with amateur radio.

As for football, I was always giving them tips. Rebrov and Shevchenko learnt everything from me because I was a leader. I told everyone who was wrong, so the players grew. It's called continuity, but now there is no such thing.

Tell me, what can we learn from Besedin?

- What kind of captain was Luzhnyi?

- He was a tough captain. But he had the right to be, because he worked harder than anyone else, and he didn't have a particularly calm personality. I liked his toughness, even though he shouted all the time. I also got beaten up, but rarely, because I didn't make mistakes that often.

- How does Luzhnyi's toughness go hand in hand with the fact that he listens to his mother in everything? In one of his interviews, he even said that he doesn't talk to the press because his mother forbids him to.

- Everyone knows that. He just loves and respects his mum, but he used to snap at us (Laughs).

- Has Luzhnyi's mum ever been to a training session?

- No. Before, no one else was allowed to attend Dynamo's training sessions. Sabo often liked to play through the net, he was a strong player, and when he dabbed, even the guards who went to the post were to blame. Once I played with him. I conveniently dumped it to him in one touch, and he shot, and when he missed, he was very angry with himself, I could not be made the last man standing.

Andrii Piskun