Spartak Moscow fans are going to make the 2018 World Cup in Russia so much fun. Supporters of Narodnaya komanda (The People’s Team) traveled to Slovenia for the club’s Champions League match against NK Maribor on Wednesday and set the town on fire. Literally.
Spartak fans skirmished with police wearing riot gear before the match.
You can see flares being thrown and hear thrown bottles like it’s some sort of Ghost Adventures episode. The Slovenian police corps could use a little work on their melee attacks but ‘A’ for effort, even if few connections were made. The best part may be the old man near the end strolling through the scene with a smile, laughing at the whole misadventure.
Somehow, the Spartak fans had some flares left over from their pregame scuffle and lit up the away section of the Stadion Ljudski vrt. One flare was fired all the way to the middle of the pitch, nearly hitting the referee.
Spartak Moscow fans fired a flare toward the ref during their game at Maribor tonight. (via @PintsandPyro) pic.twitter.com/kul17UhBRA
— The Away Fans (@theawayfans) September 13, 2017
All in good fun, right?
Through it all, a match was in fact played, because who wants to let a little rioting get in the way of sport? Spartak and Maribor drew 1-1, with an Aleksandr Samedov goal in the 59th minute canceled out by a Damjan Bohar equalizer in the 85th.
Neither goal was as interesting as the fireworks before and during the match. We can’t wait to see what Russians do when they’re hosting the World Cup next summer. Tickets go on sale Thursday!
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