Kakha Kaladze turned 35 years old. Great pain and great joy – you can hardly name a Georgian football player who had severe minutes and success like Kaladze. I often remember the moment when he cried like a baby, while the anthem before the match between Georgia and Italy… It was on June 2, 2001, in Tbilisi. He suffered because of his brother Levan.
He had no time for football but Kakha was a professional.
Georgian 4-time champion and 4-time Cup owner, Ukrainian three-time champion and three-time Cup owner, Italian champion and Cup owner, he also won Super Cup.
He won the most prestigious club tournament – Champions League – twice (2003, 2007), he lost final once. He won European Super Cup twice and is World Club champion. Kakha won “Team Trophy” three times and “Berlusconi Trophy” 6 times. Besides it, he won many individual prizes…
We are surprised that the Georgian football player achieved so much.
Of course, Kaladze was the greatest football player in the history of independent Georgia.
Here are the best 10 matches of Kaladze:
1. 2005. “Milan”-“Inter” 1:0 (championship). The only goal of Kaladze decided the fate of “Derby Della Madonnina”. At the 71st minute, Clarence Seedorf took a free kick which Kaladze caught and scored against Julio Cesar.
2. 1997. Georgia-Italy 0:0 (qualifying of Mundial). It was the turning point match for Kakha. At the 19thminute captain Kakha Tskhadadze got injured and Davit Kipiani replaced him with the 19-year-old Kakha Kaladze. And the instruction? He had to play against Christian Vieri.
Vieri was on perfect form then. He scored many goals and how the 19-year-old boy could stop him. But Kakha did it.
3. 2005. “Roma”-“Milan” 0:2 (championship). Kaladze was the best. After a good assist of Kakha, Hernan Crespo scored goal with headshot.
Italian Gazzetta dello Sport named Kaladze as the best football player of the round.
4. 1998. “Dynamo” (Kyiv)-“Spartak” (Moscow) 1:0 (final of CIS Cup). Kaladze was a new player in the team of Valeriy Lobanovskyi. In the final the Georgian left defender scored a goal of victory. It was at the 57thminute.
5. 2003. Georgia-Russia 1:0 (Euro-2004 qualifying). Kakha held a good match and it was his merit that the Russians had only one moment. It was one of the most joyful victory in the history of the team.
6. 2011. Georgia-Croatia 1:0 (Euro-2012 qualifying). Kakha and the whole match did their best. The Croatians had great advantage. Kakha played against Srna and Petric. He participated in the goal of Kobiashvili. In 2011 Croatia was stronger team than the team of Valery Gazzaev in 2003.
7. 1998. “Lens”-“Dynamo” (Kyiv) 1:3 (group stage of Champions League). It was the last round of the group. The group where besides these two teams, “Panathinaikos” and “Arsenal” were. “Dynamo” needed only one victory. It was not easy to win over French champion “Lens”. The score was 0:0 till the 60th minute and Kaladze scored the first goal.
8. 2002. “Milan”-“Real” 1:0 (Champions League, II qualifying round). Perhaps, it was the best match of Kakha in “Milan”. The Georgian neutralized Luis Figo. Shevchenko scored the only goal of the match.
9. 1999. “Dynamo” (Kyiv) – “Real” 2:0 (Champions League, ¼ final match). The first match ended up 1:1 in Madrid. “Real” attacked much before the break. Kakha parried attacks of Raul, Morientes and Seedorf. In the second half “Dynamo” scored two goals – Shevchenko was the author of those goals.
10. 2003. “Milan” – “Juventus” 0:0, penalty shootout 3:2 (final of Champions League). Kaladze won Champions League for the first time and it was a special day in his life. Kakha played well. He tried to score goal but Buffon parried it. He could not score goal in penalty shootout but who remembered it – “Milan” won.
We have not written about the best goal of Kakha. He scored it in Georgia when he played for “Dinamo” Tbilisi. Kakha scored it against “Dila” Gori. He was 16 years old.
Ilia Nanobashvili
