Lokomotiv Moscow

The UEFA webpage announced that Slaven Bilic (who is the coach of the Croatian National Football team) will become manager of FC Lokomotiv Moscow. Bilic is expected to take the reins of FC Lokomotov Moscow after the end of Euro 2012.

Bilic managing FC Lokomotiv Moscow is beneficial for both the club and the future manager.

FC Lokomotiv Moscow

According to ESPN Soccernet, FC Lokomotiv Moscow finished in fifth place with 64 points. The team is behind Spartak Moscow, CSKA Moscow, Zenit St. Petersburg and Dinamo Moscow.

Olga Smorodskaya (FC Lokomotiv Moscow president) has ambitious plans for the club as reported by UEFA. The plans of Ms. Smorodskaya is to take the club to even higher levels within three years especially with Russia hosting the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Ms. Smorodskaya is hoping that Bilic is the person who could put everything in Lokomotiv Moscow together. Jose Couceiro (according to the Daily Mail) was forced to quit as manager because of not-so-great season. The result left Lokomotiv Moscow out of the UEFA Europa League.

Slaven Bilic

Bilic takes with him experience as manager of the Croatian National Football team. He was also a defender for the Premier League (or English teams) West Ham and Everton.

According to the Daily Mail, under Bilic, Croatia advanced in European football as the team defeated England to qualify for Euro 2008. According to the BBC Sports website, Croatia eventually lost to Turkey on the basis of penalties in the same event.

Under Bilic, Croatia participated in the 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers and qualified for the 2012 Euro. In addition to the Croatian National Football team, Bilic coached the Hajduk Split team in Croatia.

It is hoped that FC Lokomotiv Moscow can have a strong season with Bilic as its manager. It remains to be seen what will transpire after Euro 2012.

FC Lokomotiv Moscow was able to defeat AEK Athens FC in the UEFA Europa League 3-1. The victory was especially sweet since FC Lokomotiv Moscow was in an European match for the 100th time in its history.

Dmitri Sychev (FC Lokomotiv Moscow Captain) let it loose with his head to score the first goal within 47 minutes. FC Lokomotiv Moscow continued to dominate the match with Sychev scoring again on a penalty within 71 minutes.

The match belonged to FC Lokomotiv Moscow; although, Dimitris Sialmas (AEK Athens FC Substitute) was able to score the only goal within 89 minutes of the match.

Felipe Calcedo was not going to allow an open match and scored the last goal for FC Lokomotiv Moscow in stoppage time. The result of the match put FC Lokomotiv Moscow in second place in Group L of the UEFA Europa League behind Anderlecht with nine points.

Sturm is currently in third place with three points while AEK Athens FC is in fourth place with no points.

There were a couple shaky moments in this match, like Ibricic and Da Costa of FC Lokomotiv Moscow getting cautioned for unprofessional behavior. Jose Carlos (AEK Athens FC) was cautioned as well. Dmitri Sychev was the most valued player of the UEFA Europa League match between FC Lokomotiv Moscow and AEK Athens FC for his two goals.

Will FC Lokomotiv Moscow advance in the UEFA Europa League? It remains to be seen what will transpire.

On Sunday, Spartak Moscow got back to their winning ways by beating rivals Lokomotiv by a score of 3-2.

All of Spartak's goals came from Brazilian forward Welliton, who now finds himself tied for most in the Russian Premier League. The 23-year-old striker opened the scoring for the away side finding a cross from fellow countrymen Alex in the 18th minute.

Lokomotiv would respond two minutes later with a set-piece goal by Aleksandr Aliev who would beat keeper Sergei Pesyakov who timed the strike terribly.

Welliton would grab his second of the game with help from another fellow countrymen (Ibson) who would connect on a perfectly timed run, to the dismay of Lokomotiv's defense and goalkeeper Guilherme Marinato.

Welliton would cap off his second career hat-trick in the 66th minute finding the end of a Nikita Bazhenov cross to tap in his third goal. Lokomotiv would come within one but Spartak held on and leapfrogged their rivals to sixth place.

With the acquisition of twins Dmitri and Kirill Kombarov from Dynamo Moscow and the signing of Aiden McGeady of Celtic, Spartak will look to climb the table, after a up and down season, with the UEFA Champions League Group Stages just around the corner.

Spartak will face Tomsk next week where McGeady will possibly feature in his first match with his new club after agreeing to a deal worth $14 million over four-years.

Much is expected from the most expensive transfer in Scottish Football history and hopefully the Spartak brass choose wisely when courting the 24-year-old.