Sunday marks the 75th anniversary of the famous midfielder of Dynamo Moscow, USSR champion, USSR Cup winner and Olympic bronze medalist Andrei Yakubik.
Andrei Aleksandrovich was born on August 24, 1950 in Moscow. Since childhood, he was fond of various sports - swimming, football, bandy. He played for the capital's sports school Metrostroy, where he was noticed by representatives of Dynamo. After playing two years in the reserve team of the white-blues, Yakubik went to Dynamo Makhachkala, where he spent six months, to gain playing practice and serve.
Yakubik showed himself brightly in Makhachkala, scoring 6 goals in 22 matches, as a result of which the capital's Dynamo decided to bring back the promising footballer, and since 1971 he has become a player of the main team. Konstantin Ivanovich Beskov, who was training the white-blues at that time, gradually introduced the talented midfielder into his team.
In 1972, Yakubik became a starting player and helped Dynamo become the first Soviet team to reach the final of the European Cup – the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, where the white-blues lost to the Scottish Glasgow Rangers (2:3) in a tense battle. Andrei Aleksandrovich played 57 minutes in that match, but that defeat remained a thorn in his memory for a long time.
- Could Dynamo have beaten Glasgow Rangers then? They could have. We were in no way inferior to the Scots. But we conceded one ridiculous goal, then another. Look, it's already 0:3. We won back two goals, we could have scored a third. But the Scottish fans poured onto the field before the final whistle, and the match ended. It's a shame. We lacked experience, - Yakubik later recalled.
In the same 1972, Andrei Aleksandrovich played for the USSR national team at the Munich Olympics and won a bronze medal.
Dynamo fans remember Yakubik for his brilliant attacking play, excellent goal instinct, endurance, high speed and a powerful strike with both feet. He skillfully interacted with his teammates and was distinguished by his instant assessment of game situations. He also had excellent body control and played well with his head.
Yakubik played for Dynamo until 1980, playing 218 matches, scoring 44 goals and winning the USSR championship (1976) and Cup (1977) with the white-blues. After that, he moved to Tashkent Pakhtakor, where he became a living legend - he scored 73 goals in 140 games, entered the list of "33 best football players of the USSR", the symbolic club of Grigory Fedotov and with 23 goals became the top scorer of the USSR championship-1982.
Andrei Aleksandrovich went to finish his career in his native Moscow, to the club Krasnaya Presnya, with which he won the RSFSR Cup for teams of the Second League. In 1987, he graduated from the Higher School of Coaches and continued to work in children's and youth football of Moscow Dynamo. He was also an active participant in the Dynamo veterans team.
