The Spartak Moscow Gazette
Match1 Aug 2026
No mercy from Spartak Moscow
Baltika will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑2, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Spartak Moscow were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A brace, and Manfred Ugalde takes the afternoon — 8.62
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Manfred Ugalde provided it, and the 8.62 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Both of them Mirlind Daku's — 8.58
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.58, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Roman Zobnin: 10 seasons and counting
311 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Spartak Moscow know exactly what they have.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Christopher Wooh pops up at the right end — 7.69
7.69, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Market3 Aug 2026
Esequiel Barco raises the bar for Spartak Moscow
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Spartak Moscow heard it as anything else.
Market3 Aug 2026
Pablo Solari wants European nights
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Esequiel Barco signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Esequiel Barco and Spartak Moscow agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Spartak Moscow
Gedson Fernandes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
In brief
- Match Manfred Ugalde among the goals in a wild afternoon
- Squad Pablo Solari falls out with a teammate over standards
- The dugout No hiding place for Esequiel Barco