Ivan OrekhovCorrespondent SportAll materialsOn Friday, the former Spartak forward Alexander Kozlov passed away at the age of 29. 1. Played for «red-white» until 2016. Despite the fact that Alexander disappeared from the radar in 2012, the footballer defended the colors of «Spartak» for more than one year. Having been on loan at Khimki, Kozlov returned to the camp of the Red-Whites, where he played in Spartak-2 until 2016. For 36 matches, the midfielder scored 10 goals and gave two assists — then there were Tosno, Fakel, departure to Kazakhstan … But an alliance with the «people's team» might not have happened. The player himself admitted in an interview with «Championship» that he was claimed by CSKA even before joining the basis of «Spartak». And the choice was extremely difficult, because not everything depended only on the athlete. However, in a conversation with crime boss Ded Khasan Kozlov, he made it clear that he wanted to defend exactly the red and white colors — after that, the pressure from people interested in the transition of the football player to the camp of the «red and blue» ceased.2. The very replacement of TikhonovDespite the scandalous parting in 2000, the Red-Whites saw off the legend of Russian football Andrei Tikhonov with full honors. After 11 years, the football player returned to Spartak, trying on the role of a playing coach in the headquarters of Valery Karpin. Not without a record: Tikhonov entered the field against Krasnodar (2: 1) in the Russian Cup and once again rewrote the history of the club, becoming the first Spartak player to play in an official match at the age of 40. The veteran’s farewell match (by the way, against the former club «Wings of the Soviets») went with a bang. On the scoreboard «Luzhniki» 3:0, captain Tikhonov played the first half, gave an assist and in the 45th minute gave way to the young hope of «Spartak» Alexander Kozlov.
