Translated material
Scottish castle
Spartak failed to take Celtic by storm
Moscow Spartak started the European season with a draw. In the home match of the third qualifying round of the Champions League at Luzhniki in the presence of 50 thousand spectators, Cherchesov’s team was unable to put the squeeze on the Scottish champion Celtic - 1:1. Now, in two weeks in Glasgow, Muscovites will only be satisfied with a more effective draw or victory.Roman Pavlyuchenko scored the only goal for Spartak in this meeting. But in the days leading up to the meeting, the center of attention was another forward of the “red-whites” - Welliton. The day before, most of the questions to Spartak head coach Stanislav Cherchesov and his players were asked about the banner hung at the Samara stadium by the red-and-white fans. The inscription on it “Number 11 only for Tikhonov, Monkey go home” reflected the fans’ position towards the recently acquired Brazilian forward Welliton, who received the T-shirt with number 11.
The Russian Football Union has launched an investigation into how a racist poster could have ended up in the stands and who was responsible for it. The Control and Disciplinary Committee was supposed to consider this issue yesterday. As sanctions, Spartak may be required to play several matches without spectators or even be deprived of several points. However, the CDC decided to postpone the discussion of the banner about the 11th number for a week, so as not to irritate the Spartak players before the match with Celtic.
In this whole story, it remains unclear whether Welliton himself, who besides Portuguese does not even approximately know any other language, understood what scandal he found himself at the center of. Having entered the starting lineup, the Brazilian tried unsuccessfully to prove that he would be useful to Spartak. “Celtic” did not pay any attention to the Russian problem of racism. In the stands in Scotland, more attention is paid not to skin color, but to religion. Celtic, for example, are supported by Catholics - the club was created in 1888 mainly to raise money to help the poor in the eastern outskirts of Glasgow and traditionally enjoys the support of people of Irish descent. It is mainly Scottish Protestants who support Celtic's enemies Rangers.
No matter who or how Celtic fans pray, it seems to be working. Only thanks to higher powers did the guests last the first half of the match, and then managed to open the scoring. Few Russian teams could have withstood such a starting onslaught from Spartak. The Scots turned out to be stronger than the Russians. And this despite the fact that the tickets printed for this match said “Russian Cup “Spartak” - “Celtic”.
Having experienced several unpleasant moments, one of which even ended in a goal being overturned by the referee, who saw a microscopic offside, the guests carried out a sharp counterattack. MacDonald raced down the right flank and made an accurate pass into the penalty area directly to the onrushing Hartley, who headed him into the corner of Pletikosa's goal. Purely British goal - 0:1.
It took Spartak a quarter of an hour to come to its senses. In these minutes, the accuracy and speed of small and medium passes, with the help of which the Muscovites quickly passed the center of the field, disappeared. Welliton faded into the shadows a little, starting the game with such enthusiasm as if the meaning of the Samara poster had just been translated to him. Spartak's wing midfielders were also cautious, afraid to go forward and expose their zones.
But it was in vain that Celtic felt safe in those moments. At the end of the half, Spartak again turned on maximum speed, and this assault was crowned with success. The Muscovites also responded to the Scots in the British way - Shishkin's cross from the right flank, Pavlyuchenko won the aerial challenge, and although Marcus Brown reached the ball in a jump, the Celtic goalkeeper failed to return it - 1:1.
Feeling that the Scots could be beaten in horse duels, after the break Cherchesov’s team began to actively use lob passes. And several times she could quite achieve her goal. For example, in the 65th minute, Pavlyuchenko headed his header without any interference at all, but overdid it, and the ball, hitting the ground, went over the crossbar. And a little later, only the efficiency of the defenders allowed Brown to catch his breath.
But Brown brought the greatest benefit to his team at the end of the match. Here Welliton already headed the ball, but the Brazilian’s luck ran out, and the strongly launched ball hit the Scottish goalkeeper. And then his Spartak colleague got a chance to prove himself - Pletikosa managed to single-handedly eliminate a dangerous breakthrough to his goal.
Kovac's strike in the last minute, after which the ball hit the crossbar from above, summed up Spartak's efforts. The Muscovites failed to take advantage of their home field factor and are now forced to think about attacking in Glasgow.
Champions League. Third qualifying round. First match. "Spartak" - "Celtic" - 1:1 (Pavlyuchenko 41 - Hartley 21) .