MKHITARYAN ONE OF EUROPE'S MOST EXCITING ATTACKING PLAYERS: OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF BUNDESLIGA
http://armenpress.am/eng/print/725970/mkhitaryan-one-of-europes-most-exciting-attacking-players-official-website-of-bundesliga.html
19:49, 12 July, 2013
YEREVAN, JULY 12, ARMENPRESS: Journalist of Bundesliga.com
Bernie Reeves on July 12 reverberated to newly signed Henrikh
Mkhitaryan. "Armenpress" shortly introduces the article about
midfielder of Armenian national football team:
"Although born in the Armenian capital of Yerevan on 21 January 1989,
Mkhitaryan spent his childhood years in southeastern France.
His father, Hamlet, a respected professional player in his homeland,
who would go on to become an Armenian international, accepted an offer
to move to France and play for the now defunct ASOA Valence (pictured)
just months after Henrikh's birth. Tragically, Hamlet died of a brain
tumor at the age of just 33, after which the Mkhitaryans left France
to move back to Yerevan in 1995. Upon returning to Yerevan, Henrikh
already knew what career he wanted to pursue.
"When I was a child I'd watch my father play and always wanted
to follow him to training," he told shakhtar.com in 2012. "When he
didn't take me I'd stay by the door crying. I always wanted to become
a football player and I thank my parents, who helped me so much to
realise this dream." Mkhitaryan joined Yerevan's biggest club FC Pyunik
in 1995, developing into one of the country's most talented players.
After three seasons in Pyunik's senior team, he left Armenia for
Ukrainian Premier League side FC Metalurh Donetsk in 2009. Following
a staggering first season in which he scored 14 goals and became the
club's youngest-ever captain, he moved across the city to Shakhtar.
With thePitmen he only got better, helping them win three successive
domestic doubles, whilst becoming the division's top scorer in 2012/13
with 25 goals. Mkhitaryan is widely recognised as Armenia's best active
player. He was voted his country's Footballer of the Year in 2009, 2011
and 2012, as well as the CIS (Baltic and Commonwealth of Independent
States) Footballer of the Year in 2012, making him the first Armenian
player to win the award since the break-up of the Soviet Union in
1991. In 2012, he won the IFFHS (International Federation of Football
History & Statistics) award for Most Popular Footballer Among Currently
Active Players and has eleven goals in 39 appearances for Armenia.
Somewhat unsurprisingly for an attacking midfielder who grew up in
France, Mkhitaryan's footballing idol is former Real Madrid CF and
French World Cup-winning midfielder Zinedine Zidane (pictured scoring
the winning goal for Madrid in the 2002 Champions League final against
Bayer 04 Leverkusen). "I really appreciated his style of play and
what he did on the pitch. He was like a magician to me."
He is still just 24, but insists that he has no plans to continue
working in football once he has retired".
From: A. Papazian
http://armenpress.am/eng/print/725970/mkhitaryan-one-of-europes-most-exciting-attacking-players-official-website-of-bundesliga.html
19:49, 12 July, 2013
YEREVAN, JULY 12, ARMENPRESS: Journalist of Bundesliga.com
Bernie Reeves on July 12 reverberated to newly signed Henrikh
Mkhitaryan. "Armenpress" shortly introduces the article about
midfielder of Armenian national football team:
"Although born in the Armenian capital of Yerevan on 21 January 1989,
Mkhitaryan spent his childhood years in southeastern France.
His father, Hamlet, a respected professional player in his homeland,
who would go on to become an Armenian international, accepted an offer
to move to France and play for the now defunct ASOA Valence (pictured)
just months after Henrikh's birth. Tragically, Hamlet died of a brain
tumor at the age of just 33, after which the Mkhitaryans left France
to move back to Yerevan in 1995. Upon returning to Yerevan, Henrikh
already knew what career he wanted to pursue.
"When I was a child I'd watch my father play and always wanted
to follow him to training," he told shakhtar.com in 2012. "When he
didn't take me I'd stay by the door crying. I always wanted to become
a football player and I thank my parents, who helped me so much to
realise this dream." Mkhitaryan joined Yerevan's biggest club FC Pyunik
in 1995, developing into one of the country's most talented players.
After three seasons in Pyunik's senior team, he left Armenia for
Ukrainian Premier League side FC Metalurh Donetsk in 2009. Following
a staggering first season in which he scored 14 goals and became the
club's youngest-ever captain, he moved across the city to Shakhtar.
With thePitmen he only got better, helping them win three successive
domestic doubles, whilst becoming the division's top scorer in 2012/13
with 25 goals. Mkhitaryan is widely recognised as Armenia's best active
player. He was voted his country's Footballer of the Year in 2009, 2011
and 2012, as well as the CIS (Baltic and Commonwealth of Independent
States) Footballer of the Year in 2012, making him the first Armenian
player to win the award since the break-up of the Soviet Union in
1991. In 2012, he won the IFFHS (International Federation of Football
History & Statistics) award for Most Popular Footballer Among Currently
Active Players and has eleven goals in 39 appearances for Armenia.
Somewhat unsurprisingly for an attacking midfielder who grew up in
France, Mkhitaryan's footballing idol is former Real Madrid CF and
French World Cup-winning midfielder Zinedine Zidane (pictured scoring
the winning goal for Madrid in the 2002 Champions League final against
Bayer 04 Leverkusen). "I really appreciated his style of play and
what he did on the pitch. He was like a magician to me."
He is still just 24, but insists that he has no plans to continue
working in football once he has retired".
From: A. Papazian