Crowd trouble disrupts Spartak success
442 Staff - Wednesday 08 December 2010, 23:39
BRATISLAVA - Spartak Moscow recovered from
a goal down to defeat Zilina 2-1 in a Champions League Group F
'dead rubber' marred by crowd trouble on Wednesday.
Fans launched a fire cracker on to the pitch in Slovakia and
the teams were briefly led off by Dutch referee Kevin Blom after
three minutes.
There were no apparent injuries after the missile came from
an area of the stadium populated by visiting supporters.
During the suspension of play Spartak went to the end of the
ground occupied by their fans and seemed to remonstrate with
them.
The trouble came less than a week after Russia were elected
as 2018 World Cup hosts following a vote by FIFA's executive
committee. Their critics had said hooliganism and racism were
still prevalent within the Russian game.
Local news agency SITA reported that some 400 Spartak
supporters attended Wednesday's match.
Tomas Majtan put Zilina ahead in the 48th minute but Alex
and Ibson replied for Spartak.
The Moscow team finished third in the group with nine points
and qualified for the Europa League. Zilina were bottom with
zero points.
Spartak dominated most of the match but fell behind against
the run of play when Majtan struck.
Alex equalised in the 54th minute, pouncing on a superb pass
with the outside of his right boot from substitute Nikola
Drincic.
The lively Ibson made it 2-1 from close range in the 61st
minute but blotted his copybook with 13 minutes to go when he
was sent off.