AIDEN McGEADY is looking forward to making his Champions League debut for Spartak Moscow tomorrow night against Marseille in France after an impressive first outing for his new club in the league over the weekend. The Republic of Ireland international set up one of Spartak’s goals in a 2-1 win over Saturn and came through the 90 minutes without any apparent problems despite his relative lack of fitness.
“My condition is good,” he says. “Saturday was only my third game of the season so I am still working on my fitness. I was tired afterwards and I still have to get up to full fitness but I’m ready for the game in France. It’s going to be a hard match for us, our first game in the Champions League, but I am ready to do my job for the team.”
McGeady’s new coach Valeri Karpin expressed satisfaction with his expensive new signing’s first showing and predicted he will only improve. “Aiden had a great game,” he said. “He displayed the qualities which we bought him for: dribbling, passing, crossing. He supplied the cross for one of the goals but that’s not the most important thing, he did well but I know he will play better.”
Karpin will be hoping he sees some of that improvement in Marseille for the Russians do not have a good record against French opposition and face a rematch here with the team that put them out in the semi-final in 1990/91.
Shay Given, meanwhile, looks set to return to the Manchester City starting line-up for Thursday’s Europa League game away to Red Bull Salzburg although Roberto Mancini insists Joe Hart is not being dropped because of the England goalkeeper’s first-half error against Blackburn Rovers which ultimately cost the would be title contenders another two points.
Instead, the proposed switch would appear to be evidence of the Italian’s intention to live up to commitments he apparently made when persuading Given to stay at Eastlands during the recent transfer window with the Irishman apparently told Hart would not play every game in every competition and Given would, therefore, get opportunities to reclaim his status as the club’s first choice.
Mancini, though, has headaches in other departments and fears he will not be in a position to field his strongest team until after the next international transfer window. “After that we should have more players in the squad,” he says. “But there are six games until then, and we must try to win all of them.”
