Moscow Madness

The Main Moscow Derby, or Derby of the East, is the clash between The Peoples Club(Spartak Moscow) and the Army Club (CSKA Moscow). Spartak being the most succesful club in Russian history and currently defending Champions. Their archrival CSKA where runner up last season. Last Sunday derby number 169 was played. Spartak has a slight advantage when it comes to winning the derby, 68 wins over 65 for CSKA. The derby ended up in a draw 36 times. One thing is certain, the derby guarentees some proper Moscow Madness!

The Rivalry

The rivalry between the two teams is relatively new. It developed in the last 25 years. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Spartaks’ rivalry with Dynamo Kyiv was lost as they start playing in the Ukranian championship. Until that moment Dynamo Kyiv was the other most succesful club in the USSR besides Spartak. Despite the fact that the derby against Dynamo Moscow is the most celebrated rivalry, the Derby of the East is the one with the biggest crowd and hatred. The rivalry even exceeds country borders, as Spartak has a friendship with Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) where CSKA has a good friendship with Partizan Belgrade.

Both sides are famous for their amazing support. Beautiful displays and proper pyro shows where they keep surprising with their creativity. And as always they did not dissapoint. Fratria, the ultras of Spartak, showed a double 3D display before the match. Both sides had a major pyro show which caused so much smoke that the referee had to abandon the match twice. Both sides also burned their rivals scarfs and flags which were taken on the streets. Their vocal support was loud and present for the entire 90 minutes.

One thing amazed me. There was a CSKA supporter which was clearly showing his colours by the flag around his neck. Obviously he was drunk and continuously provoking the Spartak supporters around him. After a while stewards told him to get rid of the flag, but they did not remove him despite the angry requests by Spartak fans. He kept on provoking people, despite Miss Bored (his wife who was more busy with her phone than watching the match) tried to keep him in his seat. Apparently he was lucky to be in a more friendly section as no one stepped up to punch him in his face. Eventually after 80 minutes the stewards were fed up with him and removed both from the stands.

Probably the Spartak supporters felt sorry for him as CSKA was far from performing on the pitch. Spartak booked a very solid 3-0 victory, CSKA nowhere to be seen, passing their rivals in the rankings. Spartak will play Lokomotiv Moscow in the next round, where the club of the railway workers have a 8 point lead.