Spartak Moscow vs Shanghai Dragons Prediction 24 August 2026

August has been going well for the Red and Whites. The team have already played three preseason friendlies-and won all of them. Their most convincing performance came in the latest outing against Torpedo, where they cruised to a 5-2 victory. Once again, the goals were spread among several players, which is currently far more important for the coaching staff than having a single standout scorer.

Much of the post-game discussion centered on the line featuring Alexander Galchenyuk, German Rubtsov and Maxime Comtois. This trio are already delivering results at the very start of preseason, even though the coaching staff are still experimenting with combinations. At the same time, young players continue to get significant ice time, ensuring that competition for places in the lineup remains fierce.

This team generated plenty of buzz over the summer, but real conclusions could only be drawn after the Minsk Cup. Despite dropping their first two games, they made a solid impression: they pushed Metallurg to overtime before falling short, and earlier managed to put five goals past Dinamo Minsk. The tournament wrapped up with a win over Sochi.

The final match was their most complete performance. Dmitrij Jaskin once again converted on the power play, Vladislav Barulin scored off a rebound, and Nicolas Petan continued to prove himself as one of the standout additions to the new roster. Following the tournament, the club finalized deals with Barulin and Pavel Koledov, and further bolstered the squad with the signing of Takhir Mingachev. The reinforcements look promising, but there’s still limited time for this group to fully develop their chemistry.