CSKA use their heads to down Lausanne

Two fine headers and a well-executed penalty gave PFC CSKA Moskva a 3-0 Group F win at FC Lausanne-Sport as the 2005 UEFA Cup winners started their bid for success in the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League.

Vágner Love's diving effort broke the deadlock in the first half, with Sergei Ignashevich exploiting space in the Swiss side's box to make it 2-0 after the break. Love then made it 3-0 with a penalty ten minutes from the end as CSKA did their bit for Muscovite civic pride, Lausanne having eliminated FC Lokomotiv Moskva in the UEFA Europa League play-offs.

The opener came after masterful teamwork from CSKA, with Love feeding the ball to Deividas Šemberas who picked out Mark González on the left wing. The Chilean international then outpaced the Lausanne defence, with his cross eluding the isolated Anthony Favre and allowing Love to head home.

Rodrigo Tosi could have levelled shortly afterwards, narrowly missing with his header, and the Brazilian was to continue to trouble Igor Akinfeev in the CSKA net, drawing a fine save out of the Russia goalkeeper with a 25-metre shot three minutes before the break. Akinfeev needed to showcase his skills once more to deny the same player in the second half.

For all of their possession, CSKA did not create too many first-half chances, though Mark González and Alan Dzagoev both tested Favre. Lausanne started to dictate the pace of the game after the interval but were undone on 68 minutes, with Zoran Tošić's free-kick picking out the unmarked Ignashevich to score.

Ten minutes from time, Lausanne's fate was sealed. Michel Avanzini brought down Pavel Mamaev in the box and, from the resulting penalty, Love beat Favre again.