It was Legia’s fourth consecutive loss in their Europa League group, after a promising start in which they won their first two games, Poland's PAP news agency reported.
They needed a win on Thursday to advance further in the competition, but fell behind early on when Spartak’s Zelimkhan Bakaev capitalised on a simple defensive mistake in the 17th minute.
Legia pressed for an equaliser and came close when Tomas Pekhart headed against the bar five minutes from time.
The Czech forward then had a golden opportunity to score when the referee awarded Legia a penalty deep into stoppage time.
However, Pekhart’s shot was saved by the Spartak goalkeeper Alexandr Selikhov and the Russian side won the match.
It meant Spartak topped the group ahead of Italy’s Napoli, who beat England’s Leicester City 3-2 in the day’s other game.
Spartak and Napoli progress further, with Leicester dropping into the less prestigious Conference League and Legia eliminated altogether, the PAP news agency reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP