With a remarkable cutting tactical plan, Rashid Rakhimov's Lokomotiv Moscow showed its promise in one of its best displays of the campaign as they defeated Spartak Moscow 1-0 at Luzhniki Stadium. Whilst the match had numerous scoring opportunities, the lone goal was Georgian veteran Davit Mujiri classic finish past Stipe Pletikosa six minutes after the opening whistle.
Boasting an opening lineup that contained four Russian internationals, Dmitriy Sychev, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Renat Yanbayev and Denis Glushakov,
Loko started the match with a fury and intent to score against Spartak, which appeared fatigued from their mid-week match. With the lead they continued to pressure and Spartak's finishing was obvious below acceptable. Yet to say this result was a "surprise" is an understatement as Spartak's loss of three points at this stage of the season, with still a chance for the Champions League is a horrible note to their year. A victory against "Loko" would have pushed them to fourth place and four points behind Dynamo and CSKA. Michael Laudrup's removal of Aleksandr Prudnikov at the break seemed to jump the gun as he was pairing up well with Nikita Bazhenov and I would have assumed they would have went three up top with Artem Dzjuba, especially as you considered how Vladimir Bystrov pace and guile was creating endless opportunities. Additionally with full health, Spartak supporters will question why with so much on the line, was Aleksandr Pavlenko on the bench till the twenty minutes remained.
With a remarkable cutting tactical plan, Rashid Rakhimov's Lokomotiv Moscow showed its promise in one of its best displays of the campaign as they defeated Spartak Moscow 1-0 at Luzhniki Stadium. Whilst the match had numerous scoring opportunities, the lone goal was Georgian veteran Davit Mujiri classic finish past Stipe Pletikosa six minutes after the opening whistle.
Boasting an opening lineup that contained four Russian internationals, Dmitriy Sychev, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Renat Yanbayev and Denis Glushakov, Loko started the match with a fury and intent to score against Spartak, which appeared fatigued from their mid-week match. With the lead they continued to pressure and Spartak's finishing was obvious below acceptable. Yet to say this result was a "surprise" is an understatement as Spartak's loss of three points at this stage of the season, with still a chance for the Champions League is a horrible note to their year. A victory against "Loko" would have pushed them to fourth place and four points behind Dynamo and CSKA. Michael Laudrup's removal of Aleksandr Prudnikov at the break seemed to jump the gun as he was pairing up well with Nikita Bazhenov and I would have assumed they would have went three up top with Artem Dzjuba, especially as you considered how Vladimir Bystrov pace and guile was creating endless opportunities. Additionally with full health, Spartak supporters will question why with so much on the line, was Aleksandr Pavlenko on the bench till the twenty minutes remained.
