Golyatov Still Has Plenty to Play For

Real Madrid and Spartak Moscow earned some consolation following their quarterfinal exits at the Alkass International Cup by recording victories in the 5th-8th place play-offs.
Real were convincing 3-0 winners over Etoile Sportive du Sahel while Spartak edged out 10-man Altinordu 2-1.

Real, looking to make up for their defeat by Kashiwa Reysol less than 24 hours earlier, went close on 15 minutes when Andri Gudjohnsen fired narrowly over but they went ahead three minutes later through Raul Dacosta Cerqueda.

Real doubled their advantage just before half-time when Fernando Rodriguez Rufo fired home and Gudjohnsen, one of Real’s best performers in the tournament, sealed a 3-0 win during the second half.

Altinordu took the lead through leading scorer Enis Destan but later saw Eren Akguney sent off and the Russians were able to stage a second half comeback.
Aslan Mutaliev, arguably the most creative midfielder at the tournament, got two more assists but more importantly Ilya Golyatev scored both of the Spartak goals.

The place-offs may offer relatively little to play for as far as most of the teams are concerned, but for Golyatov the honor of being the tournament’s top-scorer is a major motivation.

He has five goals, two more than any other player, and will be hoping to add to his tally when Spartak take on Real in the match to decide fifth place. He scored twice against Real in the group stages when the Spaniards won 3-2. Etoile Sportive Du Sahel will take on Altinordu for seventh position. Altinordu beat the Tunisians 1-0 during the group stages.