MOSCOW (AP) – Spartak Moscow sliced apart Sevilla with rapid counterattacks to beat the Spanish team 5-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday.
The Russian team is level with Liverpool on five points at the top of Group E. Sevilla dropped from first to third.
Quincy Promes headed the Russian champion’s opening goal in the 18th minute, eventually finishing with two goals and two assists. Simon Kjaer leveled for Sevilla from a corner in the 30th.
Spartak’s Quincy Promes celebrates after scoring the opening goal of the game during the Champions League group E soccer match between Spartak Moscow and Sevilla at the Otkrytiye Arena in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Oct. 17,2017.(AP Photo/Pavel Govolkin)
Sevilla put Spartak under heavy pressure at the start of the second half, but was left vulnerable at the back.
Spartak hit back hard as first Lorenzo Melgarejo scored off a Promes pass in the 58th, then captain Denis Glushakov volleyed in a Dmitry Kombarov cross in the 67th.
Luiz Adriano rounded the keeper to bag Spartak’s fourth goal, again off a pass from Promes, who added Spartak’s fifth.
Spartak goalkeeper Alexander Selikhov made crucial saves against Liverpool in his team’s previous group match, and was again on good form against Sevilla.
Selikhov kept out Michael Krohn-Dehli with an acrobatic stop just before halftime, and leapt to save from Wissam Ben Yedder in the 50th. Only a goal-line clearance from Dmitry Kombarov in the 54th kept out another Ben Yedder effort.
Spartak midfielder Alexander Samedov limped off in the first half with an apparent hamstring injury.
Liverpool demolished Maribor 7-0 in the other group game.
Spartak’s Andrei Eschenko, gets in a tackle to take the ball from Sevilla’s Pablo Sarabia during the Champions League group E soccer match between Spartak Moscow and Sevilla at the Otkrytiye Arena in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Oct. 17,2017.(AP Photo/Pavel Govolkin)
Sevilla’s Nolito, right, and Sevilla’s Michael Krohn-Dehli react after missing a chance during the Champions League Group E soccer match between Spartak Moscow and Sevilla in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev)
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