Streltsov, rise and fall of the ‘Russian Pelé’: fame, alcohol, abuse and gulag as condemnation

Vania, a petaca in hand and ethyl breath, was enough with a game of youth to surrender to Eduard Streltsov. That big boy with blue eyes and blond tupe had a unique talent and his irruption was meteoric in the 1950s, top scorer of the Soviet First Division at the age of 17. They all fantasized about what he would be able to do in the 1958 Swedish World Cup that held Pelé. It will never be known. The Russian ‘pelé’, a tormented guy, a drinker and …