MATCHDAY: HENRIKH MKHITARYAN GREATEST ARMENIAN FOOTBALLER
December 11, 2012 – 13:13 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net – The official UEFA Champions League magazine,
Champions Matchday, has released an article about Armenian and Shakhtar
Donetsk FC midfielder b>Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
“Voted FC Shakhtar Donetsk’s player of the season for 2011/12, Henrik
Mkhitaryan is, if anything, even better this time around. The Pitmen
won their first 15 league games of the season, Mkhitaryan played in 14
and scored 16 goals. It’s a barely credible statistic, particularly
as he is more of a midfielder than a striker, and spent much of last
season as a deep-lying creator or even the holding player. He isn’t 24
until January, yet already it seems legitimate to hail Mkhitaryan as
the greatest Armenian footballer since the demise of the Soviet Union,
in the pantheon alongside striker Nikita Simonyan and midfielders
Eduard Markarov and Khoren Hovhannisyan The reason he finds the net so
often is that Shakhtar’s No22 can score goals of all kinds. Clinical
finishes, sublime volleys from the edge of the penalty area, rapid
counterattacks where he sprints clear after hovering by the shoulder
of the last defender, a 360 degree turn and shot from close range –
these are all in Mkhitaryan’s repertoire. He doesn’t dwell on his goals
tally. To an extent, he is the beneficiary of Shakhtar’s fluid system
in which centre-forward Luiz Adriano’s main role is not to score
himself but to create space for the mobile trident of Mkhitaryan,
Alex Teixera and Willian who play behind him,” the article reads.
He enjoys a close relationship with Mircea Lucescu, a coach who
prefers to mould young talent. “It wasn’t easy for him,” says Lucescu,
“but his integration was speeded up by his football intelligence. His
game awareness may be his most valuable quality – that and the speed,
power and technique Henrik was gifted by nature and has developed.
Because of that, he’s one of the players who most consistently fulfils
the tasks set by the coaching staff.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
