CSKA Moscow’s Ahmed Musa has branded the club’s stadium ban for Tuesday evening’s vital Champions League encounter with Manchester City as “unfair” while also claiming Manuel Pellegrini’s team are “very weak”.
CSKA were given a three-match sanction in European games due to the repeated racist behaviour of their supporters. Musa was asked what he thought of the ban. “Yeah, it’s unfair.”
Leonid Slutsky, the CSKA manager, was reluctant to be drawn on why the club’s fans have repeatedly been found guilty of racist abuse. “Definitely the absence of the audience will affect our game and of course we need our supporters, but it is really hard for me to answer the question because I am a head coach, and to answer this question I need much more detailed information concerning this affair. I am not able to answer this question because I am a sports professional.”
Last season City defeated CSKA 2-1 in Moscow and 5-2 in the return group game. Yet Musa, a 22-year-old forward, believes this year the English champions, who have only one point from two Group E matches, are below par.
“You can see they are very weak this year so we are going to try and use that advantage against them,” he said. “They are very weak in the defence so we’re going to work against that. We know our weaker points so we’re going to try and do our best.”
Slutsky, though, was more circumspect. “Manchester City [are] favourite, not just of our group but of the tournament,” said the coach.
