Spartak v Basel match postponed following siege

UEFA has postponed this week's Champions League match between Spartak Moscow and FC Basel until November 6 as a mark of respect for the victims of the Moscow siege.

The game was due to be played in Moscow on October 30, but Swiss side Basel asked European soccer's governing body to switch it to a neutral venue on Friday when the theatre siege was still going on.

"It has been delayed as a mark of respect," UEFA communications director Mike Lee told Reuters on Sunday. "A lot of innocent people were killed and we did not feel it was appropriate to play the game."

"We think the game can go ahead in Moscow," Lee added. "But it will happen a week later."

Russian special forces stormed the theatre where Chechen rebels were holding more than 800 hostages early on Saturday, ending the three-day siege in which more than 100 people were killed.

Basel lie third in Champions League group B, five points behind leaders Spain's Valencia and two adrift of England's Liverpool. Spartak have no points after losing their first four matches.