In an impressive display, Spartak opened its effort in the Copa del Sol tournament with a 4-2 (2-2) penalty shoot victory over Swedish side IFK Göteborg.

Set in the beautiful Spanish coastal retreat of Benidorm, Valeriy Karpin’s men showed promise from the opening whistle with Aiden McGeady a constant menace on the left. Barely two minutes into the contest the Republic of Ireland narrowly missed connecting with Welliton with a teasing cross that went for naught. While general play was holstered firmly box to box thereafter, the Red-Whites were clearly the more likely to break the deadlock until being shocked six minutes past the half-hour. Coming via a deft side foot flick on from a corner, Tobias Hysén delivered a booming volley past Andriy Dykan for the one goal advantage. Spartak immediately went on the attack with Aiden McGeady applying the petrol with a quick assault on the left. With the ball moving from Welliton at the top of the box to Artem Dzyuba on the right, the twenty-three year-old striker saw his low effort intended for the bottom left corner stopped before the Brazilian sniper sent the rebound into the net. The Red-Whites continued to pressure to the lead but had to be satisfied with a 1-1 deadlock at the break.

At the re-start play continued with neither side able to make headway and a minute shy of the hour Mr. Karpin summoned Emmanuel Emenike for Welliton. Following a close miss from in an Göteborg advance, Philip Haglund powerfully headed a corner from the right into the net to restore the Swedish club’s advantage. Responding to the challenge once again, Spartak’s cagey and high work rate created a turnover as Stefan Selaković’s poorly weight pass intended for the ‘keeper was latched onto be Emmanuel Emenike and after a deft manoeuvre he deposited the leveller into the net. In the final quarter-hour Jano Ananidze entered for Demy de Zeeuw along with Aleksandr Zotov for Artem Dzyuba shortly thereafter but after both sides failed to connect on noteworthy chances the match went to penalty shoot-out.

Stepping up to the spot first Sergei Parshivlyuk saw his effort stopped before Andriy Dykan rose to the occasion to deny Tobias Hysén. In quick succession, Aiden McGeady and Jano Ananidze both notched their efforts, along with their counterparts before Marcos Rojo dispatched the ball to the top right corner of the net to provide Spartak the advantage. Andriy Dykan then managed to heroically paw away Hjörtur Logi Valgarðsson’s effort and with victory in sight Ari strode the spot and lashed the ball into the left corner.

Spartak Moscow returns to play in the Copa del Sol tournament on 1 February to face Norwegian side Rosenborg BK.

Prepared by John Davies
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