MSK Zilina bowed out of the Champions League without a point as the final game in Group F ended in a 2-1 home defeat to Spartak Moscow.

Slovakian champions go out without a point

Slovakians MSK Zilina bowed out of the UEFA Champions League without a point as the final game in Group F ended in a 2-1 home defeat to Spartak Moscow. However, the game will be remembered for events in the first half which saw the game halted and play suspended for half-an-hour as flares from the Spartak fans were thrown onto the pitch. Spartak's players even came back out to remonstrate with them to behave. The game was re-started, and after a goalless first half, the home side went ahead just after the break when Tomas Majtan pounced. But Spartak were soon level thanks to Alex's smart finish and they sealed the win as Ibson fired home from close-range. Ibson was then dismissed for a bad foul, but even with ten men Spartak managed to see the game out. Whilst Zilina bow out of Europe, Spartak move into the Europa League.

Trouble

Within minutes of the match kicking off, Dutch referee Kevin Blom led both sets of players off the field as flares were thrown onto the pitch from the Spartak section of the crowd. The visiting team re-emerged to plead with their own fans for calm, only to be met by a fresh barrage. Eventually, though, the game was able to restart and Dmitri Kombarov shot over from close range for Spartak. Ibson was similarly wasteful, skewing wide from a good position, before Kirill Kombarov flashed an effort wide from range. Marek Suchy blocked Roman Gergel's effort at the other end before Zilina's Lubomir Guldan was booked for fouling Ibson, who teed up Alex from the resulting free-kick. The Brazilian, though, fired over. Gergel was again off target before Suchy blocked Pavol Poliacek's shot, Babatounde Bello blazing the rebound over. Alex shot wide from long range and team-mates Aiden McGeady and Yevgeni Makeev followed suit as half-time arrived goalless.

Lead

Zilina had been unable to impose themselves on the game for much of that first period, but took the lead three minutes into the second. Robert Jez crossed from the right and Majtan's downward header beat keeper Andrei Dikan and found the net. Dikan was then forced to tip Tomas Oravec's fierce drive over the bar, and also gathered Bello's effort before the visitors levelled in the 54th minute as Alex finished low from the left of the penalty area. Gergel blocked Alexander Shyeshukov's drive, but the second Spartak goal was not long in coming, Alex turning provider for compatriot Ibson to finish from close range on the hour. Gergel shot over and Oravec and Guldan's long-range volleys went wide, while Ibson was off target at the other end. The latter was then dismissed for a bad foul on Oravec, before substitute Momodou Ceesay wasted Zilina's best chance of an equaliser when he headed Emil Rilke's corner wide from close range.

MSK Zilina	Team Statistics	Spartak Moscow
1	Goals	2
0	1st Half Goals	0
3	Shots on Target	3
8	Shots off Target	10
4	Blocked Shots	2
5	Corners	3
17	Fouls	15
3	Offsides	0
5	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	1
76.1	Passing Success	83.6
13	Tackles	17
61.5	Tackles Success	88.2
38.3	Possession	61.7
50.9	Territorial Advantage	49.1