Spartak Moscow v FC Moscow match preview

By: j | September 12th, 2008

Quickly after the international break, FC Moscow and Spartak Moscow face off in a key match for the Red-Whites Champions League hopes. With Spartak’s new manager Michael Laudrup in-charge, I am expecting a completely re-energized club. In addressing goals, he was very up-front commenting:

“We still have ten league matches left in the season and we’ll aim to finish in the top two to qualify for the Champions League. We also have the UEFA Cup this year and we’ll try to get good results there as well.”

Convincing talk and they certainly have the meat (bad pun but how could I resist) to get the job done.

Recent Form
FC Moscow – combined (2 W,1 D,2 L)(6 GS, 5 GA)
Aug 2 Zenit St Petersburg 2 – 1 FC Moscow
Aug 9 FC Moscow 2 – 1 Tom’ Tomsk
Aug 17 Khimki 0 – 2 FC Moscow
Aug 24 FC Moscow 0 – 1 Amkar Perm’
Aug 31 Dynamo Moscow 1 – 1 FC Moscow

FC Moscow – home (1 W,2 D, 2 L)(3 GS, 6 GA)
May 15 FC Moscow 1 – 1 Samara Kryliya Sovetov
Jul 13 FC Moscow 0 – 0 Terek Grozny
Jul 27 FC Moscow 0 – 3 Lokomotiv Moscow
Aug 9 FC Moscow 2 – 1 Tom’ Tomsk
Aug 24 FC Moscow 0 – 1 Amkar Perm’

Spartak Moscow – combined (2 W,3 D,0 L)(6 GS,4 GA)
Aug 2 Tom’ Tomsk 0 – 1 Spartak Moscow
Aug 9 Spartak Moscow 1 – 1 Khimki
Aug 17 Amkar Perm’ 1 – 1 Spartak Moscow
Aug 23 Spartak Moscow 1 – 1 Dynamo Moscow
Aug 31 Spartak Moscow 2 – 1 Spartak Nalchik

Spartak Moscow – away (1 W, 3 D, 1 L)(6 GS, 7 GA)
May 11 Samara Kryliya Sovetov 1 – 1 Spartak Moscow
Jul 6 Terek Grozny 3 – 1 Spartak Moscow
Jul 19 Lokomotiv Moscow 2 – 2 Spartak Moscow
Aug 2 Tom’ Tomsk 0 – 1 Spartak Moscow
Aug 17 Amkar Perm’ 1 – 1 Spartak Moscow

Both clubs face UEFA Cup matches this week but will pour everything forward for this match. However fatigue from international play could play a role with Spartak Moscow’s as Vladimir Bystrov and Ivan Saenko took part in Russia’s World Cup qualifying bid as did Martin Stranzl for Austria, Stipe Pletikosa for Croatia, Egor Filipenko for Belarus, Ignas Dedura for Lithuania and Radoslav Kováč for the Czech Republic.

This will be an exciting match as we are likely to see a new attacking Spartak Moscow. Whether Michael Laudrup has a chance to instill part of his system is unclear however via the press it sounds like we are going to see a much different Spartak Moscow squad. Key players to watch are Vladimir Bystrov, Ivan Saenko and Mozart of the Red-Whites as they go on the attack. If FC Moscow can slow the match down they will have a chance to overcome Spartak but I expect momentum on the side of the visitors.

I will report on the match as it concludes.