Spartak ready to go in Moscow

FC Spartak Moskva will brave the snow and freezing temperatures to welcome RC Celta de Vigo tonight unlike their city rivals PFC CSKA Moskva.

Turf heated
While CSKA headed to southern Russia for their own Round of 32 home fixture against Maccabi Haifa last night, which finished in a goalless draw, Spartak will stay in the sub-zero Luzhniki Stadium for their bow in this season's UEFA Cup knockout rounds. While the artifical turf has been specially heated since January to avoid the threat of postponement, Spartak have also taken action to avoid a repeat of last autumn's near-calamity.

Traffic trouble
En route to a major UEFA Champions League home match against Italian giants FC Internazionale Milano, Spartak found themselves stranded in one of the Russian capital's infamous traffic jams. With the clock ticking towards kick-off, the quick-thinking squad had to use the subway to get to the match. Taking no chances of a repeat, Spartak travelled to the stadium this morning to spend the day there in readiness for the night's work.

'Tough game'
Celta may be 18th in the 20-team Spanish table but Spartak's preparation underlines the seriousness with which they view their visitors. "I can see just one real weakness in Celta which is their poor mental condition," said Spartak coach Vladimir Fedotov. "They are without a win in eleven matches in the league, but the UEFA Cup is a completely different tournament and they could turn out to be a different team. I am expecting a tough game."

Injury concerns
To further complicate matters for tonight and next Thursday's return, Fedotov lost winger Quincy Owusu-Abeye and versatile midfielder Serghei Covalciuc to injury this week, although Martin Jiránek (Czech Republic) and Martin Stranzl (Austria), along with Russian duo Yegor Titov and Roman Shishkin are all fit again after returning from international duty last week with minor knocks.

Goalkeeping quandary
After speculation about big-money signings saw only full-back Renat Sabitov arrive from FC Saturn Moskovskaya Oblast, Spartak appear to be light in attack. Things are not straightforward in goal too with Aleksei Zuev injured and there had been talk of an established No1 coming in to apply pressure to Wojciech Kowalewski and Dmitri Khomich. For now neither has been frozen out, and whoever gets the nod in snowy Moscow will have to be firm against the Celta charge.