No complacency at Dynamo

'Mental blow'
Everything seemed to be going to plan for Spartak when Nikita Bazhenov put the hosts ahead after just four minutes on Wednesday night, but when Stipe Pletikosa was caught out of his goal following Mozart's back-pass and Ismaël Bangoura pounced, it all unravelled. "At first everything was fine, but then we virtually scored their equaliser for them and it was a big mental blow; it ruined our game," said the Russian side's coach Stanislav Cherchesov. "After the interval we changed our tactical plan, but conceded more and fell apart completely."

Karpin apology
Arguably the killer blow was delivered before half-time, however, when Artem Milevskiy made it 2-0, the first of two goals for the forward. "Today we felt the importance of the occasion and played like a real team," said the 23-year-old. "Matches like these are special. I remember watching Dynamo-Spartak games as a boy in 1994 and now I'm playing. We won heavily, but nothing is settled yet. It is football – anything can happen." The message from the Spartak camp was more certain, however, with Karpin saying: "I apologise to the fans for the shame they suffered today. Let's face it; we have missed out on the chance to qualify for the group stage".

Shakhtar task
It was a good night all round for Ukrainian sides as FC Shakhtar Donetsk eased to a 2-0 victory at home to NK Dinamo Zagreb thanks to first-half goals from Darijo Srna and Jadson – even if coach Mircea Lucescu was not entirely satisfied. "A 2-0 scoreline could be dangerous and is certainly not enough to make us feel confident about our place in the group stage," he said. "We had plenty of opportunities to make it 3-0, which would have made things more comfortable as we will have a very tough match in Zagreb." It will be made harder by an injury to Răzvan Raţ, who limped off with a suspected torn thigh in Donetsk, though the prognosis looks better for Willian and Olexandr Gladkiy, who also picked up knocks.