friendly matches, regardless of results, cannot compare with competitive games. we can talk about cska's form as much as we want, but only official fixtures will give us the answer. i'm sure we won't have any problems physically or tactically, but a match has many influences so let's wait and see. playing at home is a trump card for any team. obviously we have to play aggressively and push for victory but seldom is a tie at this level decided after the first leg.
sevilla have a group of top-class attacking players in perotti, navas, kanouté, negredo, capel and luis fabiano, although the last two will not feature tomorrow. all six are very strong individually and as team players. but, like any side, sevilla have their weaknesses and we'll try to exploit them. i feel very comfortable at cska, but comfort isn't the most important aspect of a coach's job – results and the quality of play are. this season will show whether our work together has been effective.
manuel jiménez, sevilla coach
it is always good when there is harmony in the team. we have a very good, united group, a team that is capable of big achievements. we have to concentrate and work together. there are factors that do not depend on the coach, such as the pitch, weather and injuries, but i am still the one responsible for the result and i'm not going to invent any excuses if something goes wrong. cska are a very strong club, one of just two russian sides to have won the uefa cup; there is no danger of underestimating them. the tie is decided over the two legs but we have to play well in the first match.
every team dreams about playing in the uefa champions league final, but there are only big clubs left in the competition and even they will eventually bow out. we have to take it step by step and first of all make it to the quarter-finals. i would love to see [cska's long break] working in our favour, but cska also have a certain advantage over us because they have been preparing specifically for this match while we sometimes had two fixtures a week. so it's a double-edged sword.
cska sakat: yok şüpheli: alan dzagoev (kasık) cezalı: yok sarı kart sınırında: miloš krasić, chidi odiah
sevilla sakat: luis fabiano (göğüs), diego capel (ayak bileği), abdoulay konko (adductor), sébastien squillaci (ayak bileği) şüpheli: yok cezaslı: yok sarı kart sınırında: fernando navarro
gonzález comes to cska's rescue published: wednesday 24 february 2010, 20.30cet
pfc cska moskva 1-1 sevilla fc
mark gonzález cancelled out álvaro negredo's first-half opener to keep alive the home side's hopes of a quarter-final place.
mark gonzález fired a memorable equaliser to earn pfc cska moskva a deserved draw against sevilla fc in the first leg of a cagey first knockout round tie.
the game looked to be going away from leonid slutski's tiring men midway through the second half when the hitherto quiet gonzález unleashed an unstoppable effort from distance. it was little more than the hosts deserved, having dominated before and after álvaro negredo's 25th-minute opener for sevilla, and cska's night might have been better, too, had andrés palop not denied tomáš necid with full time approaching.
cska are newcomers to this stage but keisuke honda, their winter signing from vvv venlo who was making his european debut, started the game as if he had never known anything else. deft of touch and seemingly always in space, his direct running caused the sevilla back line problems throughout. he gave early warning when he robbed the lax federico fazio, and when gonzález and necid failed to make the most of menacing through balls, honda took matters into his own hands, firing into the side-netting from distance.
miloš krasić was also showing sparks of life after cska's winter hibernation and the outlook, like the clouds over moscow, was gloomy for sevilla. manuel jiménez's men have run hot and cold all season, beating fc barcelona at the camp nou one week, losing at home to lowly real racing club the next. it was set for another cold one, but then they scored. jesús navas broke down the right and drilled in a low cross that bounced over sergei ignashevich's outstretched leg and into the path of the grateful negredo, who could not miss.
the army men were rocked, but reformed their lines and by half-time they had resumed their forward march. evgeni aldonin shot low past the upright and, given licence to push on, aleksei berezutski's teasing cross only just evaded gonzález at the far post. it was more of the same after the restart as krasić's cross homed in, inevitably, on honda but marius stankevičius did just enough to divert his header for a corner.
it proved a false dawn, and the game was drifting when former real betis balompié winger gonzález conjured up another bolt from the blue in the 66th minute. collecting the loose ball in midfield the winger let fly from all of 30 metres, his left-footed strike leaving palop no chance in the sevilla goal.
like negredo, it was his first goal in the uefa champions league proper, and after necid had been denied the match was also destined to finish honours even. it is all to play for in the warmer climes of andalusia on 16 march.
yardımcı hakemler: thorsten schiffner (ger), mark borsch (ger)
4. hakem: manuel gräfe (ger)
cska moskva: igor akinfeev (gk) (c), deividas šemberas, sergei ignashevich, aleksei berezutski, mark gonzález, miloš krasić, keisuke honda (dk. 83 pavel mamaev), evgeni aldonin, vasili berezutski, georgi schennikov, tomáš necid
