By Roneil Walcott
Copyright newsday
Trinidad and Tobago striker Levi Garcia enjoyed his return to club football on September 13 when he netted a brace for Spartak Moscow in their 2-2 draw with rivals Dynamo Moscow in their Russian Premier League clash at the VTB Arena in Moscow.
The 27-year-old Garcia opened the scoring for Spartak in the 19th minute when he pounced on miscommunication at the back by Dynamo defender Bakhtiyar Zaynutdinov and goalkeeper Andrey Lunyov to roll the ball into an empty net.
Despite Garcia’s early goal, Spartak went into the half trailing 2-1 after Dynamo’s Brazilian forward Bitello scored a brace of his own to turn the tide in the contest. Not to be outdone by Bitello, Garcia got his second goal in the 63rd minute to level the scores at 2-2 after a couple of Dynamo defenders got in each other’s way when they tried to deal with a header into the six-yard box by Alexander Djiku. Needing no second invitation to shoot, Garcia fired a low left-footer past Lunyov from close range to complete his double.
Spartak are currently eighth on the 16-team Russian League table with 12 points from eight games, with Dynamo ninth on nine points.
Spartak will play FC Rostov in the Russian Cup on September 18.
Mere days before rejoining Spartak, Garcia was left cursing his luck on international duty when he scored a hat-trick of offside goals against Jamaica in a World Cup qualifier in Jamaica on September 9. TT lost the qualifier 2-0 and are currently third in their final-round Concacaf qualifying group for the 2026 Fifa World Cup.
