Head coach of the Russian national team Valery Karpin attended the premiere of the film “Golden Double” about the victory of Yerevan “Ararat” in the USSR Championship and Cup in 1973 under the leadership of Nikita Simonyan. He passed away last year; the Olympic champion in the Soviet national team and the legend of Moscow Spartak died at the hundredth year of his life.
Karpin has crossed paths with Simonyan in recent years while working on the national team. Nikita Pavlovich was the first vice-president of the Russian Football Union until his last day.
– When I watched the film, I compared the relationship between the coach and the players in 1973 and now. “Nothing has changed,” said Valery Karpin. – I also liked that the children in the film, playing football, imagine themselves in the role of those who played at Ararat back then. Now we don’t have this, it’s lost. What I didn’t like was the way the film showed the analysis of the opponent before the Cup final. But I’m saying this from the point of view of a professional coach – from the point of view of a feature film, everything is fine in this smoothie.
Karpin also noted that the football for the feature film was filmed correctly, and Yegor Beroev managed to embody the image of Nikita Simonyan on the screen.
Earlier, Beroev, in an interview with Rodina, said that the appearance of a large number of films about the legends of Soviet sports and, in particular, football players, is associated with nostalgia, with the fact that “we are returning to our present selves.”
A Rodina correspondent asked Valery Karpin if he had nostalgia for the USSR:
– This is not about nostalgia for the USSR, but about football. Perhaps in 40 years they will make a film about Mostovoy (ex-football player of the USSR and Russian national teams – note by Rodina) – and then they will ask about nostalgia for Russia? No, it’s not about nostalgia.
Valery Karpin was born in 1969 in Narva (Estonian SSR), he is known as a player for Spartak, Spanish clubs Celta, Valencia and Real Sociedad. Karpin played more than 70 matches for the Russian national team, and he has been working with the team as a head coach since 2021.
Let us add that the film “Golden Take” will be released in wide release on January 29.
