Champions League Wednesday: MSK Zilina versus Spartak Moscow
The fixture that will be played out on Wednesday night at the Pod Dubnon, will see the Slovak team looking for their first point in the UEFA Champions League competition. The club lie at the bottom of their Group F, having conceded seventeen goals already
in the five fixtures previously played to the opposing squads in their group, namely Chelsea, Marseille and Spartak Moscow. The French side, Marseille take credit for shooting home seven times against the Slovaks, in a match that was played out in front of
the Pod Dubnon faithful. The match proved to secure an embarrassing record for Zilina, as the fixture went into the Champions League record books as the worst ever defeat endured by a team in the European competition.
Andre-Pierre Gignac helped himself to a hat trick. Didier Deschamp’s other squad members to find themselves on the score sheet were Lucho Gonzalez, Gabriel Heinze and Loic Remy. Rivals of the night, Spartak Moscow have already achieved a consolation spot
in next season’s Europa League competition, by securing their position in third place with six points from five games. Marseille have done three points better than the Russian side and the French and English teams will go on to play in the next knockout round
of sixteen in the elite European competition. Chelsea sit on the summit with fifteen points and they will be the guests in the fixture to runners up Marseille tonight.
This UEFA Champions League campaign has been the first the Sosoni side have played and the competition have proved to be more than the team can handle. Pavel Hapal’s team managed to secure a goal against Chelsea in their match at Stamford Bridge. The goal
by Babatounde Bello resulted in the visiting side to go one up, before Carlo Ancelotti’s side could level and eventually win the match in London. Robert Jez, the Slovakian squad’s captain, was left unmarked by the Blues players, and with the ample time and
space he was gifted, he assisted Bello in scoring past the Chelsea reserve goal keeper, Ross Turnbull. Bello, having found the confidence attempted a shot from a long range, but was denied a goal by Turnbull. SkySports hailed the goal as ‘the goal of the game’
and described it as”The neat one-touch football which resulted in the shock opener from Bello Babatounde in the first half.” The Blues leveled in the second half to prevent the Slovakian side from walking away with a point (and possibly all three), through
goals from Daniel Sturridge and Florent Malouda.
Manager, Hapal hopes the match will turn out to be a fruitful attempt for MSK Zilina to prove their worth, by securing at least a point. Giving a statement to the press, he said “we want to win.” He lamented his side’s form by saying "While we have had to
drink from a bitter cup in this competition so far on Wednesday we want to be victorious.” he attributed a draw to be a successful outcome for his club as he explained “that will be a point.”
The Spartak Moscow manager, Valeri Karpin has revealed that his team have been preparing for the match at the Hungary national team’s ground and has described their hosts facilities as “very modern.” He confirmed that using the away from home training facility
was an advantage to his side. He gave a statement to his club’s website saying,"Hungary was the right choice. We are only a few hours by bus from Zilina”. Both teams are unperturbed by the harsh weather conditions they will face, as temperatures have reported
to have stooped to minus fifteen degrees. This fixture will be Spartak Moscow’s last of 2010, and the manager will be looking to conclude the year on a high note. The Russians have no complaints of home sickness, as the manager explained “We almost feel like
we are at home here.” and will be looking to tackle the Slovaks, who will be missing two players through injury (Stefan Zosck and Admir Vladavic).
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