MOSCOW, November 26 (R-Sport) - Spartak Moscow general director Valery Karpin has stepped in as caretaker coach until the end of the year, the club said Monday.

Unai Emery was fired as coach after Spartak were thrashed 5-1 by rivals Dynamo Moscow on Sunday, five days after being knocked out of the Champions League.

"Today the club's shareholders decided that Valery Karpin will be the acting head coach of Spartak until the end of 2012," Spartak said in a website statement.

Emery and Karpin visited the team's training session together Monday morning, when the players were told of Karpin's arrival.

"Unai noted that unfortunately he had not managed to achieve the fulfilment of the tasks that had stood before him," the statement added.

Karpin coached the team from 2009 until the end of last season before moving into management as his former teammate Emery took over in June.

Karpin resigned in April 2011 after poor results, but continued in the post in an acting capacity for another 13 months.