Spartak Moscow coach Unai Emery has confirmed that his priority is a Champions League slot for next season.
Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat from Barcelona killed off their qualification hopes for the current season with nothing at stake other than pride and prize money when they visit Celtic to complete Group G.
Most of the speculation around the final matchday has been focused on what sort of side Barcelona will field against Benfica with Spartak’s motivations overlooked.
Emery’s side are currently sitting in fourth place in the Russian League and are five points off a Champions League spot.
Either side of their trip to Glasgow they face matches against clubs above them in the table hosting Zenit on Thursday followed by a trip to Rubin Kazan the Sunday after facing Celtic.
Six teams are within six points of second place, leaders CSKA Moscow are five ahead of second placed Anzhi Makhachkala, with Emery dropping a strong hint that the domestic game is his immediate priority.
After losing to Barca the Spartak boss said: “The Champions League always distracts you from domestic matters slightly so now we have to concentrate on the Russian league to make sure we qualify for Europe again next season.
“In my overall analysis of this group stage,I would say that things got away from us with the 3-2 home defeat against Celtic FC when we seemed to have everything going for us. The three points from that game are what we are missing now.
“We had a lot of hopes invested in this tournament – qualifying for the next phase or even just getting into the Europa League.
Aiden McGeady hasn’t played for Spartak since October 7 due to a knee injury picked up playing for Ireland against the Faroe Isles.
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Any key players spartak leave out of the champs league game for their league can only be an advantage to us but we have to field as strong a team as possible to win and hopefully win by a few goals so i think lennon should set the team up to dominate instead of relying on the counter attacking game
They won’t be mugs. Barcelona will do their part infront of their own fans, so we need to make sure we do ours. Can’t wait for this, the atmosphere is going to be electric.
I agree with chris, it would be nice to get away from 2nd bottom of the % possession rank we are in the champions league, go out and give spartak the hiding they deserve!! Fed up with people coming out and saying we were lucky, when we weren’t !! Hopefully this last tie back at footballs paradise venue will show the world that Celtic truly are one of the worlds best ;D gbnl for u are the ginga ninja!!
How many times have we been all over teams in Europe just to be hit with the sucker punch? We’ve got the tactical know how now…Lenny wants to go one better in Europe than he did as a player