Veniamin Mandrykin is gone. Fate measured him only 41 years, of which almost 13 he was confined to a wheelchair after a terrible accident.
In the late 90s, I often and with great pleasure came to Vladikavkaz, where I became friends with Alania's press officer Andrey Airapetov. As a hospitable host, he introduced me to all the football people of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania. At one of the matches (I don’t remember if Alania or its farm club played in it), Andrey introduced me to coach Valery Gorokhov. He immediately began to praise his pupil, who defended the gates of the hosts: «What texture, what reaction, what reading of the game! This guy will be the goalkeeper of the national team.» This is how I first heard about Veniamin Mandrykin.
It was Gorokhov who put the tallest guy in his children's team into the goal and convinced young Venya, who doubted his sports talents, to continue playing football after the successful performance of the youth Vladikavkaz team at the tournament in the USA. Valery Gazzaev, who headed Alania, also assessed the pupil of the local school. After the departure of Zaur Khapov, it was Mandrykin who became the main goalkeeper of the team.
In the middle of the 2001 season, Mandrykin, following Gazzaev, moved to CSKA. Competition with Ruslan Nigmatullin, who moved to the army club on loan from Verona for the sake of playing at the 2002 World Cup, Veniamin successfully withstood. In 2003, he even played two matches for the Russian national team, which was accepted by Gazzaev.
But it was difficult to compete with Igor Akinfeev at that time (as, indeed, now). The future hero of the 2018 World Cup staked a place at the gates of CSKA and the Russian national team back in 2003. Mandrykin never played for the national team again, and at the club he was content with the role of understudy. Although when Akinfeev was seriously injured in May 2007, Mandrykin adequately replaced him at the gates of the army club.
To be content with the role of the eternal, albeit a highly paid understudy, Benjamin did not want to and began to wander around the leases: «Tom», «Rostov», Bryansk «Dynamo». It was in Bryansk that the accident happened. Avoiding police pursuit in a Porsche Cayenne at a speed of about 200 km/h, Veniamin crashed into a tree, after which he was forever chained to a wheelchair.
Mandrykin always spoke quite frankly about his habit of driving at exorbitant speeds, which he acquired back in CSKA after buying the first cool foreign car, and that he was grateful to fate for the fact that there were no victims in a terrible accident (two of his teammate and two girls), and about his complete helplessness. He couldn't even eat on his own. It was as if Mandrykin was warning a new generation of Russian footballers who were tempted to make big money: don't repeat my mistakes!
Gorokhov was the first to report the death of his student. The football player's sister Marina said that Benjamin died this morning from a heart attack. The resuscitation team could not do anything. After 13 years in bed and in a wheelchair, Veniamin could not fight for a life in which there was neither the drive he loved so much, nor, moreover, football.
CSKA expressed condolences to the family and friends of Mandrykin . The army club never forgot their former goalkeeper. After an accident in Bryansk, CSKA players collected funds for the treatment and rehabilitation of the player, most of the bills were paid by Evgeny Giner. But no one has yet learned how to treat spinal cord injuries.
It remains for us to remember one of the most promising goalkeepers in the country, his life was divided by an accident, the culprit of which was himself.
The Sport editors express their condolences to the family and friends of the athlete.< br>