Taking into account the extremely powerful rivals in the group, the first round match with Legia was of particular importance for Spartak. The loss of points in a meeting with the least strong of the opponents threatened to significantly reduce the chances of the red-whites both to get into the playoffs of the Europa League and to successfully complete the struggle for the third line. According to the regulations, now she gave a ticket to the Conference League - a great chance to continue the European Cup season and compete for, if not the most significant, but still an international trophy.
In addition to the tournament prospects, the meeting with Legia was supposed to answer the question whether the victory over Khimki in the RPL was just a successful episode in the life of Spartak, who was going through a difficult stage of perestroika, or, on the contrary, testified to its gradual return to normal. And it was very handy that almost the same 11 players entered the Otkrytie Bank Arena field as four days ago. And the only change was the absence of Alexander Sobolev, who gave way to Jordan Larsson. The number of central defenders remained the same, but the formation itself changed a little. Rui Vitoria opted for a 3-4-3 scheme, in which Ezequiel Ponce and Quincy Promes were located in the same line with the Swedes.
As for the Poles, they did everything possible to make their visit to Russia as much discussed in the press as possible. And it's not just about the solemn presentation of the T-shirt with the first number to Stanislav Cherchesov. According to the media, the club spent about 2.5 million rubles to place several advertising banners in the capital. They depicted Legia footballers and the signature “Moscow, we are back”. This was a kind of reference to the face-to-face confrontation between teams a decade ago. In August 2011, Legia snatched a 3-2 victory and made it to the Europa League group stage, with the winning goal scored by Janusz Gol in the 90th minute. the red-and-white anatas did not disregard this and responded with an insulting poster.
And on the field, the Poles behaved no less insolently than outside.
In the first half, "Legia", although it created fewer chances, still did not hesitate to either press or attack with large forces.
True, most of the lunges arose due to long forward casts, for which the overall Mahir Emreli tried to cling.
Only Lukinyas managed to disturb Alexander Maksimenko, whose long-range strike was not particularly dangerous.
“Spartak” acted quite bravely, which in particular was expressed in the active involvement of Georgy Djikia in the attacks.
Apparently, the Russian watched the last matches of Chelsea and decided to learn from the experience of Antonio Rudiger, who also very often makes dashes to the opponent's penalty area.
And this seemed quite unexpected, because under Tedesco, such raids were carried out by his colleague Samuel Gigot.
Nevertheless, Vitoria's team focused on the flanks, where, in addition to the wingers, Ayrton and Victor Moses, and sometimes Nail Umyarov, also actively rushed in. Legia was often located too compactly, which left the opponent too much freedom on the sidelines. Therefore, it is not surprising that most of the shots on goal by Artur Boruts were made after shifting from the edge to the center. The only exceptions were Gigot's head nod, Ponce's close in the penalty area and Jorrit Hendrix's long-range shot. The Dutchman started the meeting on the bench, but in the 24th minute he replaced the injured Roman Zobnin.
In the course of the second half, the pressure on Legia's goal only increased, as a result of which five or six guest footballers often had to find themselves in their own penalty area. And Spartak did not manage to break through such a massive enemy defense. Some of the blows got stuck in the defenders, while others went wide of the mark. Moses shot above the gate, and Gigot hit the crossbar from a vantage point. By the way, the moment with the participation of the Frenchman was again the result of a successful corner kick - one of the hallmarks of the red-and-white period of Vitoria.
At times, high pressure also worked, in which both Ponce and Larsson showed themselves great. And if the successful actions of the Argentine in this aspect did not come as a surprise, the Swede was pleasantly surprised. At the start of the season, he was not eager to work out without the ball, but he noticeably changed his attitude to business. And in one of the episodes, Ayrton also fought to the end, almost punishing the Poles for an unsuccessful pass to Boruts. The Brazilian was close to getting ahead of the goalkeeper and subsequently hitting an empty target, but he lacked a fraction of a second.
The hosts failed to maintain a high pace throughout the meeting. Closer to the end, the speed on the field dropped, which was clearly in favor of the guests. Legia began to possess the ball more and more often and to enter another third of the field, and in the 78th minute it almost shocked the local fans. Emreli responded to a serve into the penalty area from the flank and hit his head, but Spartak was saved by the post.
Up to stoppage time, it was difficult to make claims to the game of the red and white. Yes, they couldn't crack the enemy's low defensive block, but was that news? Spartacus experienced similar problems even under Tedesco, and after taking over as head coach of Vitoria, little has changed in this regard. At the same time, the regular moments at the gate of Boruts could be the reason that the mentor did not make replacements for a long time. Only in the 69th minute did Alexander Lomovitsky come out, and Zelimkhan Bakaev and Alexander Sobolev got a chance to prove themselves only eight minutes before the end of regular time. Moreover, the first two took on the roles of the left and right laterals, which is not typical for both.
And it is all the more remarkable that it was on the flank that the goal against Spartak was organized.
In the first stoppage minute, substitute Ernest Muchi took advantage of Rasskazov's confusion and broke through on the left edge, after which he executed a cross into the penalty area.
Lomovitsky did not have time for another spare in the person of Lirim Kastrati and allowed him to close the transmission in the fall.
The result of Spartak's first match in the Europa League was disappointing.
The red-whites inflicted three times as many shots on goal (23: 7), but still lost to Legia and could not “wash away the shame” of the previous defeat.
This is how the owner of the club Leonid Fedun formulated the task for the first meeting of the group stage.
In the next round, Vitoria's charges will face a much more serious test.
At the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, they will play with Napoli.