Spartak Moskva v Athletic background
One of 4 Russian clubs in a UEFA Europa League turn of 32, Spartak Moskva are alone among that party in personification a initial leg during home, where they perform foe regulars and 2011/12 runners-up Athletic Club.
• Spartak have crossed over from a UEFA Champions League after finishing third in a territory headed by Liverpool, while Athletic came by as winners of Group I, above Östersund on a head-to-head rule, notwithstanding unwell to register a feat in any of their opening 3 fixtures.
Previous meetings
• There have been no prior European foe fixtures between a dual clubs.
• Spartak have faced Spanish antithesis on 28 occasions with a record W8 D6 L14 (W4 D6 L4 during home). They have already taken on a Liga bar this season, violence Sevilla 5-1 in Moscow on matchday 3 – their biggest UEFA Champions League win – before losing a lapse 2-1 a fortnight after in Andalusia.
• Athletic have visited Russia, and Moscow, usually twice before and are nonetheless to win in a Russian capital. Their final revisit brought a 2-1 better to Spartak’s city rivals Lokomotiv in a 2011/12 UEFA Europa League turn of 32 initial leg – Denis Glushakov, now Spartak captain, scoring a chastisement for a home side – though Athletic won a lapse 1-0 to swell on divided goals and go on to strech a final. Iker Muniain scored both Athletic goals in a tie.
Form guide
• Although Spartak’s UEFA Champions League debate finished in elimination, they were undefeated during home, sketch 1-1 opposite both Liverpool and Maribor in serve to that 5-1 win opposite Sevilla.
• The Moscow bar have conceded one idea in any of their final 4 European home games and have not kept a purify piece in their final 11 – given a 3-0 win opposite Ajax in a 2010/11 UEFA Europa League turn of 16.
• That 2010/11 campaign, in that they overcame Basel 4-3 on total in a turn of 32, is Spartak’s usually prior knowledge of a UEFA Europa League knockout proviso – when they also eliminated from a UEFA Champions League – though they were turn of 32 participants dual seasons using in a UEFA Cup, in 2006/07 and 2007/08. They mislaid both ties, a initial to Spain’s Celta Vigo (1-1 home, 1-2 away).
• Spartak’s best UEFA Cup opening came in 1997/98, when they reached a semi-finals.
• Athletic are dominant divided from home in Europe this deteriorate (W2 D3) and are on a method of 3 consecutive wins, home and away. Only one other club, Viktoria Plzeň, won their final 3 fixtures in a organisation stage.
• Athletic are competing in a UEFA Europa League turn of 32 for a fourth consecutive deteriorate and a sixth time in all. They have done serve swell on usually dual of their 5 prior attempts, losing 4-3 on total to APOEL of Cyprus 12 months ago (3-2 home, 0-2 away). Their unique divided success during this theatre of a foe came opposite Marseille in 2015/16, a 1-0 win during a Stade Vélodrome preceding a 1-1 pull in Bilbao.
• Spartak are a reigning Russian champions, winning a joining final deteriorate for a initial time in 16 years. They assigned third place during this season’s winter break, trailing leaders Lokomotiv by 8 points
• Seventh in Spain final term, Athletic are competing in Europe for a fourth consecutive deteriorate – their longest consecutive method given a mid-1980s. They were losing finalists in a 1976/77 UEFA Cup (to Juventus) as good as a 2011/12 UEFA Europa League (to Atlético Madrid).
Links and trivia
• Spartak’s Croatian midfielder Mario PaÅ¡alić, on loan from Chelsea, spent 2014/15 during Spanish bar Elche, appeating in a 2-1 divided win and 3-2 home better opposite Athletic.
• Spartak’s Fernando and Luiz Adriano started both matches for Shakhtar Donetsk opposite Athletic in a 2014/15 UEFA Champions League organisation stage. A goalless pull in Bilbao was followed by a 1-0 win for Athletic in Lviv.
• Spartak’s 7-0 better divided to Liverpool on matchday 6 of a UEFA Champions League organisation theatre was a club’s heaviest European loss.
• This will be Athletic’s 58th diversion in a UEFA Europa League, organisation theatre to final: usually Villarreal, with 60, have played more. Athletic’s all-time total of 94 goals scored is also usually bettered by Villarreal (103).
• Athletic’s Raúl GarcÃa was a 2009/10 UEFA Europa League leader with Atlético Madrid.
• Athletic’s Aritz Aduriz top-scored in a 2015/16 UEFA Europa League, with 10 goals, and is a second-highest all-time scorer in a foe correct – after Radamel Falcao – with 23. He has 5 goals in a stream debate and is on a scoring run of 4 consecutive matches, a best in a competition.
The coaches
• A former Italian defender who did not hang adult his boots until he was 44, Massimo Carrera’s personification career reached a culmination with Juventus in a 1990s, a array of prize successes commencement with a 1992/93 UEFA Cup. He returned to Turin to turn partner to Antonio Conte, after portion underneath him for Italy before holding over during Spartak and heading them to a 2016/17 Russian pretension during a initial attempt.
• Better famous as ‘Cuco’, José Ãngel Ziganda was a brazen for Osasuna and Athletic Club who also won dual caps for Spain and after guided a Pamplona side to a 2006/07 UEFA Cup semi-finals as coach. He was handed a Athletic pursuit in May 2017, as a deputy for Barcelona-bound Ernesto Valverde, following a six-year spell as a Basque club’s B group boss.