Aiden McGeady made his Spartak Moscow debut today in the 2-1 home win over Saturn.
Wearing the number 64 the former Celt set up the opening goal for Wellington with a great defence splitting pass in the seventh minute.
The picture on the left will take a bit of getting used to but at least the Champions League viewing for Celtic supporters will have an edge this season with Aiden McGeady featuring in Group F alongside Chelsea, Olympique Marseille and MSK Zilina.
On Saturday McGeady should make his Spartak debut at home to Saturn following international appearances against Armenia and Andorra.
Spartak trail leaders Zenit St Petersburg by a distant 17 points with Zenit having played a game less.
McGeady, known as Makgidi on the Spartak website, practised his feints according to the website which gave a fairly detailed breakdown of Thursday’s training in preparation of the Saturn match.
It said: “Today’s day of “Spartacus” began with the theory, which lasted two football half-time without interruption, that is a half hour.
“Debriefing, held the head coach of the team, Valery Karpin, listened carefully to all the players the basic structure, including Aidan Makgidi, Ananidze and Jeannot, who arrived in Moscow from Dublin and Tbilisi on the eve of the evening.
“The practical exercise consisted of a warm-up, various exercises with the ball, knock on the gate, after which the players were invited to work independently.
“Some of them continued to beat on target gates, others preferred tennisbol and Makgidi, for example, improved techniques, honing their favorite feints.
“Pay particular attention to Makgidi and several recruits “Spartacus” watched from the bench coach and consultant to our team, Oleg Romantsev.”
So now you know all about Spartacus, Makgidi and his favourite feints.
Qualification for next season’s Champions League looks unlikely and coach Valery Karpin can’t be feeling confident about life at the moment with only the spectre of the Champions League keeping him in a job.
Spartak will be looking to qualify along with Chelsea from the group which will require a good start in Marseille on Wednesday night.
The home match with Zilina shouldn’t prove too demanding before back-to-back matches against Chelsea.
Makgidi has taken on the number 64 at Spartak which is either the reversal of his Celtic number or the bus to Auchenshuggle that doesn’t go beyond Parkhead Cross.
Official Spartak Moscow website
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