Who is Spartak Moscow: Profiling PAOK’s UEFA Champions League opponents

PAOK have been drawn to play against Russian side Spartak Moscow in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. AGONAsport takes a closer look at what the Thessalonikis can expect over the two-legged affair.

Watch LIVE from AGONAsport PAOK's first leg matchup against Spartak Moscow in UEFA Champions League qualifying on Wednesday, August 8th. Details here.

Background

FC Spartak Moscow are the most successful club in Russia. The club has a rich history winning 12 Soviet championships, a record 10 Russian championships, 10 Soviet cups, 3 Russian cups and 1 Russian Super Cup. Spartak Moscow have one of the biggest fanbases in Russia and have an alliance with Greek side Olympiacos and Serbian side Crvena Zvezda. Spartak Moscow have more Championships than any other Russian club and are only second behind Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv. The club was associated with hard working citizens and members of the trade union, which gave them the title of being the “The People's Team.” Fellow capital side, CSKA Moscow are Spartak’s main rivals, with the rivalry between both clubs being called the Main Moscow Derby.

Spartak Moscow’s dominant spell in the league came from the period of 1992 to 2001 where they managed to win 9 league titles in those 10 seasons. However, their dominance has not been the same ever since their golden period only managing to win one league title  in the past 16 seasons coming during the 2016/17 season.

Full name: FC Spartak Moscow

Founded: 1922

Chairman: Sergey Rodionov

Stadium: Otkritie Arena (capacity: 45,360)

Titles won: 22 Russian Premier League titles, 3 Russian Cups and 1 Russian Super Cup.
 

HEAD COACH:

54-year-old Italian manager Massimo Carrera was also a former player who comes with strong football pedigree, being a central defender, he played professionally for remarkably 26 years.

He was assistant to Antonio Conte for four years at Italian giants Juventus as well as the Italian National Team. He teamed up with Conte at Juventus where he was appointed as the club’s football director, but in 2012 he was appointed as the club’s caretaker manager after Conte and his assistant Angelo Alessio were banned for match fixing implications. He managed Juventus for 10 matches winning 7 games and drawing three matches.

Before the 2016–17 season, he was hired as an assistant manager for the Russian side FC Spartak Moscow. Manager Dmitri Alenichev resigned from his post of 5 August 2016 after Spartak's elimination from the UEFA Europa League by Cypriot club AEK Larnaca. Following the departure of Alenichev, Carrera was appointed the caretaker manager. Two weeks later he was then hired as head manager on a permanent basis. They would go on to win the Russian Premier League and the Russian Super League as well as Carrera being awarded the coach of the year award in the Russian Premier League. Carrera has been in charge of Spartak Moscow for 54 games with a record of 31 wins, 13 draws, and 10 losses.
 

Key players:

Dutch winger and fan favourite, Quincy Promes, is clearly Spartak Moscow’s best player. The experienced 25-year-old has made 128 appearances for the club since 2014 scoring 64 goals and making 33 assists. His value now in the market stands close to 20 million Euros. Last season in all competitions he played in 37 matches and scored 21 goals. PAOK will have to lockdown the fast and dangerous attacker if they are going to prevent Spartak Moscow from progressing in the Champions League.
 

Brazilian striker Luis Adriano is also a key player for the Russian side having previously played for both Inter Milan and AC Milan as well as having his most successful club spell at Shakhtar Donetsk making 162 appearances and scoring 77 goals. He made the move to Spartak Moscow in the 2016/17 season and since then, has made 34 appearances for the Russian club scoring on 12 occasions.  
 

Brazilian international Fernando looms as one of Spartak Moscow’s key men, having been capped 8 times for Brazil. He is a defensive midfielder who looks to break up the play extremely well. He has previously played for Shakhtar Donetsk and Sampdoria before moving to Russia, where Spartak Moscow reportedly paid 12 million Euros to secure the services of the Brazilian.
 

Last season recap:

Last season, Spartak Moscow finished third in the Russian Premier League behind Lokomotiv Moscow and CSKA Moscow. They finished 4 points behind by the eventual champions Lokomotiv Moscow. They finished their league season with 56 points from 30 matches, with 16 wins, 8 draws, and 6 losses. They were eliminated in the UEFA Champions League group stages last season by finishing in third place behind eventual runners-up Liverpool and Sevilla. They had some indifferent results in their group as they defeated Sevilla 5-1 on matchday 3, before being demolished 7-0 against Liverpool. Finishing in third place in the Champions League resulted in Spartak Moscow participating in the UEFA Europa League round of 32, where they were defeated by Spanish side Athletic Bilbao (5-3 on aggregate).
 

by Athan Stylos

Image Source: to10.gr

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