Victor Moses: Spartak Moscow crumble despite wideman’s intermittent excellence

Nearly 45 minutes had passed and Victor Moses had barely had a kick against Leicester City.

Having been lauded before the game by Brendan Rodgers, the right wing-back was having a quiet evening when Spartak Moscow welcomed the Foxes looking to extend their unbeaten start in Group C.

 After a rather quiet start to the game, the former Chelsea man came alive just before half-time, closing down a dithering Caglar Soyuncu and keeping his composure to set up Jordan Larsson for the hosts’ second. They led 2-0 and you could already see the headlines writing themselves…for the Russian outfit and the Premier League club.

 However, the concession of Patson Daka’s first Europa League goal for the East Midlands side turned the game on its head. The Zambia star went on to score three more times before another Moses assist — this time for Aleksandr Sobolev — in the 86th minute kept the PL side on their toes for the rest of the game in Moscow.

 The game ended 4-3 to the visitors who exposed the home side’s unsophisticated structure without possession and acres of space between the lines with Daka profiting to hit the East European club for four.

 Moses did set up two of Spartak’s goals and was responsible for the pair of big chances his side fashioned for the entirety of the game, but this was a broadly poor team showing from Rui Vitoria’s men.

Their shape during several Leicester City transitions was astonishing and the final score wasn’t a fair reflection of what had ensued over the 90 minutes.

They went in front fortuitously despite the away side controlling the game early doors and creating some promising situations which Kelechi Iheanacho and Daka couldn’t convert.

It was mostly the same until Moses took the initiative by harrying Soyuncu for the Russians’ second against the run of play.

Leicester halving the deficit immediately afterwards was what they deserved for how they played in the opening 45 minutes and the stats at half-time were rather telling.

Rodgers’ men had the lion share of possession (68-32) and had outshot Vitoria’s men 14-6 before the interlude…they had to have felt hard done by when they fell behind 2-0.

 Moses barely got involved in that time, touching the ball 16 times for the entirety of the half. For context, this was higher than only two Spartak outfielders—Larsson & Nikolay Rasskazov — while Spartak shot-stopper Aleksandr Maksimenko had more contact with the ball than the former Chelsea man.

Be that as it may, his influence grew after the break where he was more involved in moves and he had a few goal attempts.

 Spartak’s position in the group isn’t shaky, although they could drop to fourth if Napoli defeats Legia Warsaw in what is developing into an exciting group.

 With Moses capable of producing moments of excellence — even when he is on the periphery — they ought to believe they can progress at the expense of supposedly superior teams.

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Seye Omidiora is a passionate football writer and pundit whose deep appreciation for the beautiful game exceeds the usual. He is currently a columnist for Goal Africa and has previously written for Vital Football UK, IBCity Info and Opera News.

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