Spartak Moscow dismisses coach Massimo Carrera

Moscow, Oct 22 (IANS) Spartak Moscow on Monday sacked its Italian coach, Massimo Carrera, a day after a home defeat in the Russian Premier League.Spartak suffered a 2-3 fall to Arsenal Tula on Sunday to occupy the seventh position in the Russian Premier League standings with 18 points after 11 matches, reports Efe."The club's Board of Directors has made a decision to relieve Carrera of his post," the Russian football side confirmed on its Twitter account.Spartak explained in a statement that the results of the past season were unsatisfactory, as none of the objectives was achieved, lamenting that the results of the team this season also showed that there was no improvement.The Italian coach has made history in 2017 when he led Spartak to claim the Russian Premier League title for the first time in 16 years.The dismissal of Carrera was also expected after the coach's failure to reach the UEFA Champions League group stage.Carrera, who had been Antonio Conte's assistant in Juventus, came to the Russian side at the beginning of the 2016-17 season after the dismissal of Dmitri Alenichev.With the Italian coach on the bench, Spartak finished third in the past season, but the poor results of the last weeks led to his dismissal.Spartak confirmed that Spaniard Raul Riancho is set to lead the team as an interim head coach.
--IANS tri/sed