McGeady credits Spartak muscle for Ajax win

Aiden McGeady told UEFA.com that showing no fear was crucial to FC Spartak Moskva easing to a 3-0 victory against AFC Ajax, and a 4-0 aggregate success in their UEFA Europa League round of 16 tie.

Spartak allowed their opponents far too much time and space to play in the first leg, but Valeri Karpin's men attacked from the first minute in Moscow, and Ajax struggled to cope with the pace and movement of the home side's forwards. Goals from Dmitri Kombarov, Welliton and Alex duly sunk the Amsterdam side.

"We watched the video of the first half of the first leg and everyone was pretty disappointed, and so was the manager," said the Irish international winger. "We wanted to put something right tonight and everyone was buzzing around in the first half and trying to get in Ajax's faces, trying to make sure they were not comfortable on the ball while we just played with freedom.

"After the first game Ajax were the better team but we knew ourselves we were just as good if not better if we played to our strengths, and tonight I think we did that," added McGeady.

Ajax showed little of their first-leg adventure until the closing stages as Andriy Dykan was forced into making some excellent saves. However, as Ajax midfielder Christian Eriksen said, it was too little too late. "They had three shots and they scored three goals; for them it is really good," said the Dane. "It was the same for them in Amsterdam where they had one shot and one goal. There we had 20 chances and no goals, and tonight we had five chances and no goals."

Ajax have now failed to beat their Russian opponents in four meetings, and McGeady said Spartak have nothing to fear as they advance to the quarter-finals. "Of course we want to go as far as we can so that means we will have to face the best teams at some point," he explained. "We will see how the draw pans out."