Unai Emery is expecting the Argentine defender to lead Spartak Moscow’s defensive line in the upcoming UEFA Champions League’s tie against FC Barcelona on Tuesday
Spartak Moscow face an uphill task to reach the knock-out stages of the UEFA Champions League as they play http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Barcelona-c39078 in the group stages of the European tournament at Luzhniki stadium on Tuesday.
Going into the crunch league tie, the Spartachi will be without http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Aiden-McGeady-c4091 and Romelu while they are expecting Emmanuel Emenike to return to action against the La Liga giants.
Spartak head coach, Unai Emery, has urged his side to win the upcoming European group stage match against Tito Vilanova’s men if they are to keep alive their hopes of qualifying to the next round of the cup tournament.
Emery, who came to know a lot about Barcelona’s tactics and techniques during his stay at Mestalla stadium before coming to Russia, admitted that it will be difficult task to stop the opposition’s fully loaded offensive line.
The 41-year-old urged in-form defender, Nicolas Pareja, to help his side defensively against the worthy opponents, who were denied a chance to play in the finals after suffering an aggregate defeat against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 in the semi-finals
of the competition last term.
“In the first game against Barcelona, we failed to surprise the opponent. We had a great first-half as we did not give them free space on the field. We need to do the same but for the entire 90 minutes.”
“Pareja has exceptional qualities to play defensively. He reads the game well and I think he will be an important player for Spartak in years to come.” Miguel Muñoz Trophy winner was quoted as saying.
After a pulsating 2-0 defeat against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/SL-Benfica-c40542 at Stadio da Luz, Emery knows that the remaining two group stage fixtures against Barcelona and Celtic are must win European games.
As things stand, the Moscow-based club are at the bottom-spot on their respective group table with just three points. Their only win came against Benfica in the competition, when they defeated the Portuguese supreme’s with a 2-1
score-line at home.
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