A heated battle is expected at Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium tonight, as
Spartak will try to put up four goals against Dynamo Kyiv.
Having suffered a 1-4 destruction at home two weeks ago,
the Champions League third qualifying round second leg match against the
Ukrainian outfit seems to be a mere formality for the visiting side.
Russian Premier League vice-champions arrived to Kyiv with 20-men squad:
Pletikosa, Dzhanaev, Shishkin, Parshivlyuk, Jiranek, Kovac, Dedura, Filipenko,
A.Ivanov, Mozart, Kovalchyuk, Sovetkin, Pavlenko, Bystrov, Maidana, Saenko,
Pavlyuchenko, Bazhenov, Dzyuba and Prudnikov. Stranzl, Fathi, Weliton
and Rodriguez stayed in Moscow.
Spartak's leading striker Roman Pavlyuchenko left Kyiv for Moscow for
he headed to Tottenham. Absence of the team talismanic playmaker will
surely dampen Spartak slim chances of advancing to the next round.
Tonight match will be the third one for Igor Ledyakhov as Spartak caretaker.
When asked about changes in the team playing model, Ledyakhov said to
Sport Express: "It would be an exaggeration to talk about any changes
after one week. We need time to return the team its traditional style
and we are working in this direction."
"Putting up four goals is very hard, but our goal is showing good
football. We also shouldn't forget about rankings."
Artyom Dzyuba's father is Ukrainian, but the player visited Kyiv for the
first time. "My father was born in Poltavski region and when I was
a child I visited Ukraine five or six times, but I have never been to
Kyiv, says Dzyuba.
"Having the strongest players in the squad, Spartak will try to win
the return match. Our rivals are sure they would easily advance to the
next round, but if we manage to score two goals halftime, we will have
good chances to finish the match with the necessary numbers on the scoresheet."
