Rubin Kazan Coach and Mariah Carey Rendition-Man Leonid Slutsky

Grant has a festive end-of-year interview with one of the most interesting people in world soccer, Rubin Kazan coach Leonid Slutsky. Slutsky went viral globally this week with his hysterical music video rendition of Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You. He speaks to Grant about the idea for the video and tells the story of his career, from having to quit playing as a goalkeeper at age 18 due to an injury that resulted from falling out of a tree while rescuing a cat; his rise as a coach to reaching the 2009-10 UEFA Champions League quarterfinals with CSKA Moscow; his three Russian league championships; his time as Russia coach at Euro 2016; his adventures in England coaching Hull City and learning English; his friendships with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and chief executive Marina Granovskaia; his return to Russia at Rubin Kazan; and his thoughts on soccer in the United States. This episode of Fútbol with Grant Wahl is brought to you by Fanatiz. On Fanatiz, you can watch all the action in Spain’s La Liga and other international leagues and tournaments live and on-demand from your mobile phone, tablet or directly on your TV with the Fanatiz app. Fanatiz features channels you know, like BeIN Sports in English and Spanish, GolTV and many more. And it only costs as little as $7.99 a month.  If you’d like to try Fanatiz for yourself, you can get a free week-long trial by going to fntz.co/Grant-FZ. Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqIhXWUw0H4 Get full access to Fútbol with Grant Wahl at grantwahl.substack.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices