Wednesday, November 24, 2021 at 6:27 PM• Mart van Mourik

Spartak Moscow booked a crucial win in the Europa League on Wednesday evening. In the Russian capital, the team of coach Rui Vitória was 2-1 too strong for Napoli. Thanks to the win, the tension completely returned to Group C, with the Muscovites leading the way with seven points. Napoli follows in second place for the time being with an equal number of points, but with a less mutual result. On Thursday evening, Leicester City (five points) and Legia Warsaw (six points) meet on English soil.

Quincy Promes could count on a basic place on the side of Spartak Moscow, while Jorrit Hendrix was still not in the selection due to a hip injury. At Napoli, Dries Mertens, who was accurate in the away game against Internazionale (3-2), started for the third time this season. The Russian formation was already helped in the third minute of play. Stanislav Lobotka made an unfortunate tackle on Promes, who went to the ground in the box. Clément Turpin gave Spartak a penalty, which was shot in flawlessly by Aleksandr Sobolev.

After fifteen minutes of play, Napoli appeared in the scene for the first time. Goalkeeper Aleksandr Selikhov parried a volley from Eljif Elmas, who also failed to level the score from the rebound. After half an hour of play, Spartak doubled the margin. Victor Moses had a nice dribble on the right side of the field, after which he delivered a tailor-made cross to Sobolev. The latter scored the 2-0 with a header and his second of the afternoon.

In the second act, the rather invisible Napoli surfaced. A first warning shot was fired by Giovanni Di Lorenzo, who scored on a pass from Andrea Petagna but was called back for offside. The connecting goal came in the 64th minute. Petagna served Elmas, who was able to nod in at the far post: 2-1. In the remainder of the game, the Italians tried to break the spell, but Spartak held out.