CSKA Moscow – the lowdown on Sporting’s Champions League opponents

CSKA Moscow – the lowdown on Sporting’s Champions League opponents

The season has only just begun, but Sporting face one of their most important matches of 2015/16 tomorrow evening as the Lisbon club welcome CSKA Moscow to the Portuguese capital in the first leg of the Champions League play-off.

The Lions have unhappy memories of the last time the Russian outfit visited the Alvalade. Home advantage counted for nothing as the Muscovites beat Sporting 3-1 in the 2005 Uefa Cup final to deny Sporting European glory.

Can Jorge Jesus’s men exact a measure of revenge for that painful night a decade ago? It won’t be easy. Russian football expert and UEFA.com commentator John Bradley gives PortuGOAL the lowdown on CSKA.

  

1.  CSKA have made a flying start to the Russian season and are top of the table after winning 5/5 including a derby victory over Spartak on Friday. Have they looked as good as those results suggest?

I think the thing you always say about CSKA is they’re the same as last season and that’s the same as the season before. They have a continuity to their game and are all well versed in Leonid Slutskiy’s methods.

They hadn’t conceded in the league until Igor Akinfeev was beaten by Dmitri Kombarov’s penalty. That said, they were pretty hopeless defensively in the previous round in Europe and needed a heroic comeback after going two down away from home having drawn the first leg 2-2 in Moscow.

 

2. Ones to watch - Who are CSKA’s star players?

All the good play of CSKA will go through Bibras Natcho (pictured above) and Roman Eremenko. The two formed a decent partnership at Rubin and that has blossomed at CSKA. The pace of Ahmed Musa is a threat to any defence, he is as quick as anybody in football, while the return of Seydou Doumbia after 6 unhappy months at Roma will give the club a real lift. He has the very nice knack of being able to score goals at will.

 

3. Strong points/weak points – what must Sporting beware of and what can they exploit?

The strengths are the team bond and organisation, they know each other inside out and everyone digs in for the team, although their rather rigid structure can come undone against more fluid sides.

Weaknesses....there can be a few. Pontus Wernbloom is a walking yellow card and tends to be a one-man wrecking ball in the game. The two central defenders Sergey Ignashevich (36) and Vasili Berezutski (33) can be made to feel their advancing years against mobile forwards while Kirill Nababkin is a right-back playing at left-back and can be caught out at times.

  

4. Formation and playing style – what system do they usually play? Would you describe CSKA generically as an attacking or a defensive team?

Easy: 4-2-3-1. You can almost always pick Slutskiy’s team for him. Akinfeev; Mario Fernandes, Berezutski (V), Ignashevichh, Nababkin; Natcho, Wernbloom; Tosic, Eremenko, Dzagoev; Musa. Word from the camp is that Doumbia will be on the bench as he was in the derby on Friday.

They will always defend deep and expect them to play on the counter attack away from home and look out for the electric Musa, as they do break very well. At home they will try and dictate the game a little more.

 

5. Mood in the camp – judging by player/coach quotes regarding this game, do you think CSKA come into the tie in a confident frame of mind?

The outward projection from the camp is one of confidence, but also of respect for Sporting. I get the impression they would have preferred an easier draw. However, they acquitted themselves well in a tough group last season and feel they belong at Champions League group stage level.

 

6. What is the Russian press saying about the match? What was the reaction to landing Sporting in the play-off draw?

As you’d imagine, there has been much reminiscing of that famous night in the Alvalade back in 2005 when CSKA lifted the Uefa Cup. It’s staggering to think that the goalkeeper and two central defenders who started that game will start this week (Vasili Berezutski’s twin brother Aleksei, who scored CSKA’s first goal in that game, will be on the bench).

I think the Russian press have got used to disappointment from their teams in Europe over the past few season, but they will remain optimistic with a huge dose of caution thrown in.

 

7. What do you think the result of the match will be?

If CSKA defend like they did in the last round, they could be dead and buried after the first leg. As it is, I have to back them to be better and come through over two very close games.

I’m certainly looking forward to the ‘tie of the round’.

 

Our thanks to John Bradley. For more from John follow him on Twitter at @JBcommentator.