December 11. Today was born... Gusin would have turned 52

Today is rich in birthdays of personalities who have linked their lives to football:

Andrei Gusin

Andrei Gusin (1972-2014) — legendary midfielder of Kyiv’s “Dynamo”. The best years of his career Andrei spent with the “white-blue” team under the guidance of Valery Lobanovsky. Gusin also represented the Russian clubs “Krylya Sovetov” and “Saturn”. He led the second team of “Dynamo”. As part of the Ukraine national team, he played 71 matches, scoring 9 goals. Quarterfinalist of the 2006 World Cup. On September 17, 2014, Andrei tragically died in a motorcycle accident at the “Chayka” racetrack.

Evgeny Lemeshko (1930-2016) — former goalkeeper. He played for clubs such as “Dynamo” (Kyiv), “Avangard” (Mykolayiv), and “Shakhtar” (Stalino). Achievements: Silver medalist of the USSR championship 1952, holder of the Soviet Cup 1954.

Javier Saviola (1981) — former Argentine footballer, who played until recently for “River Plate”. In 1999, he was named the best footballer in South America. In 2005, he was included in FIFA 100 of the 125 greatest living footballers. Olympic champion of 2004 as part of the Argentina national team. He also played for Catalan “Barcelona”, Madrid “Real”, “Malaga”, and Lisbon “Benfica”. As part of the Argentina national team, he played 39 matches, scoring 11 goals.

Fabrizio Ravanelli (1968) — former Italian forward. Throughout his career, Ravanelli played for numerous clubs, including the giants of Italian football (“Juventus”, “Lazio”), the French superclub (“Olympique” Marseille), and teams from the Foggy Albion (“Middlesbrough”, “Derby County”). He was known as the White Feather for his distinctive hair color and his knack for scoring from the most incredible positions. Fabrizio Ravanelli spent his best years at “Juventus”, with which he won a series of prestigious trophies: the Italian championship title (1994/1995), the Coppa Italia (1994/1995), the Italian Supercup (1995), the Champions League (1995/1996), and the UEFA Cup (1992/1993). The triangle Ravanelli — Vialli — Baggio was considered the best attacking trio in club football at that time. He played 22 matches for the national team of Italy, scoring 8 goals. A few years ago, he headed Kyiv's “Arsenal”.