The pitch may be artificial but Spartak are the real deal

David Taylor, UEFA's chief executive, displayed precious little Scottish favouritism when he plucked Spartak's name to face Celtic in yesterday's draw for the third qualifying round in Nyon.

It is arguably the toughest possible pairing for the SPL champions.

The Parkhead club travel away first, visiting the Russian capital on August 15, with the return in Glasgow on August 29.

Celtic will have only two Clydesdale Bank Premier League fixtures to sharpen their squad before the first leg, but will encounter a team already well immersed in Russian domestic business. After 18 games in their league campaign, Spartak currently sit two points clear of Zenit St Petersburg, the club managed by Dick Advocaat, at the summit of the table.

Stanislav Cherchesov, Spartak's head coach, is respectful of Celtic's strong home record in European competition and will spend the next fortnight assembling as much information as possible on Strachan's players.

"Celtic are a strong opponent, who play in front of packed crowds when at home," said Cherchesov. "The team is sufficiently qualified and their play has changed for the better in recent years.

"But while we don't have all the necessary information and haven't studied our opponents thoroughly, there is little sense in saying anything concrete about them. It's not in our tradition to get ahead of ourselves and give predictions."

His cautious tone was echoed by Sergey Shavlo, the club's general director, who heads up all of Spartak's football administration.

"It's the first time Spartak have drawn a Scottish club. It's a good draw," said Shavlo. "Celtic are an interesting side that play attacking football and have a good collection of players. We will prepare, and interesting games lie ahead.

I consider our chances to be 50-50."

Spartak, runners-up in the Russian league last season, reached the 2006 group stage by defeating Slovan Liberec of the Czech Republic. A 3-1 win away to Sporting Lisbon was enough to see them edge out the Portuguese for third place in their section, behind Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, and enter the UEFA Cup. It was, though, only a brief flirtation with the continent's secondary tournament as Spartak lost 3-2 on aggregate to Celta Vigo in the last 32.

Spartak's 1-1 home draw with Sporting Lisbon was the first Champions League match to be played on artificial turf, although UEFA have approved top-level surfaces for the past two years. The Luzhniki, shared with city rivals Torpedo, will have natural grass installed for this season's final, but it's likely the stadium will continue with the plastic until then.

Strachan, though, will be more concerned with the players who run upon it. Egor Titov is the local hero, a playmaker who has discarded the shame of a failed drugs test to return to peak form. A one-club man, the 31-year-old is capable of carving open defences with the weight and angle of his passes and has remained a key man within Cherchesov's line-up.

Titov shot to infamy when testing positive for banned substance bromantan after playing for Russia in a Euro 2004 play-off against Wales, earning a 12-month suspension. The presence of the drug in his system was later blamed on Anatoly Schukin, an assistant on the physiotherapy staff at Spartak.

Alongside Titov in midfield is the Brazilian Mozart, once linked with Celtic, who was joined at the club this summer by compatriot Welliton Soares. Spartak beat Dinamo Kiev and Lokomotiv Moscow to the signature of the 20-year-old striker by agreeing a £4m fee with Goias. Welliton provides a different option to Roman Pavlyuchenko, a regular scorer in the Russian league.

Defensively, Spartak are weakened by the absence of Martin Jiranek, the Czech internationalist, who underwent ankle surgery last month and is not expected to play.