Spartak Moscow manager Valery Karpin admits his men were intimidated by Chelsea
After the thumping by English giants in the Champions League fixture, the Russian club has headed back to reevaluate their weaknesses in their next fixture, so that they can still avail the chance of taking a step ahead in the
most glamorous of all European tournaments.
One thing was for sure and it took no expert to figure it out; When Chelsea and Spartak Moscow were battling it out on the field, the English were the dominant side, as a matter of fact the Russians were downright intimidated by
them, after all it wasn’t a battle field.
In the expanse of green the players seemed lost and disconnected as their players were nearly cut off by the precision and one tap passes by the men in Blue.
The manager of Spartak Moscow Valery Karpin, has admitted his team was “scared” as they headed out to face the team from South London. He stated that his men certainly lacked the capability to cope with pressure and that was what
claimed their hearts with fear in the 2-0 defeat against the English no.1 on Tuesday.
Ironically the Russians were put to the sword by a man from their very own nation. It was the Russian international Yuri Zhirkov who drew first blood for Chelsea in spectacular fashion when he volleyed a ball from outside the box.
After this early goal it was Nicolas Anelka who found himself at the right place at the right time to double the lead before half time. Though these were the only two goals, the men from Stamford Bridge dominated the game and produced
many other chances to score.
Karpin has commented that his team performed too shabby before the break and ultimately it became too much to recover from, therefore they lost the bout of the night.
While talking to media Karpin stated on the match situation explaining, “We had two different halves.”
He continued by describing the situation his men were facing, “I spoke to the players in the dressing room and realized my team were a bit scared of Chelsea in the first half.”
Though Chelsea had Karpin and his men quite embarrassed, the manager hopes that his team will show a better performance in the match against the English Premier League winners when they play the other leg of the Group matches at Stamford Bridge.
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