Spartak Moscow issue statement after being kicked out of Europa League by UEFA

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Spartak Moscow have said they will obey UEFA's decision to remove them from the Europa League, while stressing that they disagree with the decision.

The governing body has banned all Russian club and international sides from its competitions in the light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while the men's national team has also been thrown out of the World Cup with just a month to go until its proposed qualifying play-off.

Spartak had won their Europa League group stage ahead of Napoli, Leicester City and Legia Warsaw, and had been due to take on German side RB Leipzig in the next knockout round.

However, the European football body has moved to remove the club from the competition, with Leipzig getting a bye to the quarter-finals.

"UEFA and FIFA have decided to exclude from the current iteration of the Europa League. This means that our round of 16 ties against RB Leipzig will not go ahead as planned," Spartak's statement reads.

"This verdict is connected to the organisations' position on recent events that have taken place in Ukraine.

"The recent decision taken by UEFA and FIFA although expected, is extremely upsetting. Unfortunately, the efforts that our club made in the Europa League have been