Respects paid at Moscow match

Veteran teams of FC Spartak Moskva and Haarlem FC met today at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow to pay their respects to the supporters who died during the UEFA Cup match between the sides 25 years ago. Many of those on the pitch today participated on that tragic occasion.

Excellent attendance
The 2-2 draw was witnessed by 5,000 fans and they were not disappointed by the competitive match where both teams strived for victory. Former USSR goalkeeper Rinat Dasaev had to be alert on several occasions to keep Spartak in the contest, while Guus Hiddink's assistant in the Russia national team, Igor Korneev, and Spartak general director Sergei Shavlo scored for the home side. Haarlem's strikes came from Wim Balm and Joop Böckling.

"Sound response"
"It was Haarlem's idea to play such a match," said Shavlo. "Of course we responded to it as we liked it very much and did our best to make it a real game. We had a good response from those who played in that ill-fated game and those who are still healthy enough to take to the pitch. We cannot bring back our fans who died 25 years ago, but the memory should live forever."

Memorial statue
On the eve of the match a memorial evening was held in the Dutch embassy while before the game there were flowers placed at the commemorative statue at the Luzhniki Stadium. The event also had a charity aspect as Haarlem handed over €5,000 as maintenance costs for the memorial while Spartak will transfer a part of the funds raised from Saturday's league match against FC Moskva to the families of the fans that died 25 years ago. Officially 66 people died in the disaster on 20 October 1982, but reports since indicate that as many as 340 were killed in a crush towards the end of the UEFA Cup tie.