Defending Russian Premier League champions CSKA Moscow suffered their first defeat of the new season, losing 1-0 to Spartak Moscow.
Spartak emerged victorious from a fiery derby in the capital, Dmitri Kombarov s penalty in the 61st minute settling the game in the visitors favour, before CSKA s Kirill Nababkin and Spartak s Sergei Parshivlyuk each saw red in the third minute of injury time.
CSKA s defeat means Zenit are the only team in the league with a 100 per cent record, although Andre Villas-Boas men needed a 31st-minute penalty from Hulk to seal a 1-0 win over newly promoted Ufa, as they attempt to regain the title they last won in 2011-12.
Dinamo Moscow leapfrogged CSKA into second with a 2-1 victory at Arsenal Tula, Douglas and Kevin Kuranyi on target in t…
Sergio Ramos says Real Madrid s players have enjoyed great success under Zinedine Zidane so far due to the great relationship that exists between squad and coach.
Zidane was promoted from the Castilla coaching job to lead the senior team in January after a fractured spell under Rafael Benitez, who reportedly struggled to command the full respect of Madrid s Galacticos .
The former France international won the Champions League for Madrid as a player, his wondrous volley helping see off Bayer Leverkusen in the 2001 final, and will now hope to add another European Cup to his CV in Saturday s showpiece with Atletico Madrid at San Siro.
Carlo Ancelotti led Madrid to their 10th Champions League success, beating Atletico 4-1 in the 2013 final after extra time, and Ra…