Spartak Moscow sack Laudrup after Russian Cup humiliation
Spartak Moscow have dismissed Danish coach Michael Laudrup after a dismal 3-0 home defeat to cross-town rivals Dynamo in the quarterfinals of the Russian Cup.
The result followed a poor start to the 2009 league season that has seen the most successful Russian side of the 1990s win just one of their opening four games.
"Spartak Moscow FC trainer Michael Laudrup has been dismissed from his duties in connection with unsatisfactory results," a statement on the club`s official website said late on Wednesday.
It added that the proposal to fire the Danish football legend had been made by Spartak general director Valery Karpin, who will take over as manager for the "near future."
The 40-year-old former Spartak, Valencia, and Celta Vigo midfielder played for the Russian side from 1990-94 and was responsible for bringing Laudrup to Moscow.
Spartak`s defeat to Dynamo on Wednesday was the first time that the club had lost at home to the former secret police side in 20 years. All three goals came in the second half.
Laudrup, 44, is the sixth coach in as many years to be dismissed Spartak. When he took over the club last September, the side`s fans were hopeful that the Danish football legend could replicate the success of another foreign trainer, Zenit St. Petersburg`s Dick Advocaat. However, Spartak struggled to find form toward the end of last season, and crashed out of the UEFA Cup at the group stages. Their forward line was particularly weakened by the sale of Roman Pavlyuchenko to Tottenham Hotspur just before Laudrup`s arrival.
The team`s next fixture - Karpin`s first as caretaker manager - is a Premier League home match against Terek Grozny on Saturday.
Spartak Moscow`s glory days came under the erratic genius of Oleg Romanstev, when the Red and Whites reached the semifinals of the Champions League, the UEFA Cup and the Cup Winners` Cup, and won the title every year but one from 1992 to 2001.
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