FC Rubin Kazan strengthened their position among the top two in Group H with a victory over Neftçi PFK that was never really in doubt from the moment Alan Kasaev broke the deadlock on 16 minutes.

The winger applied a crisp finish low inside the far post after running onto a well-weighted Gökdeniz Karadeniz through ball. With the effervescent Karadeniz pulling the strings, the hosts looked set for a big win but they were never quite able to add to their advantage. Neftçi, for their part, were much improved after the interval but have it all to do when these sides meet in Azerbaijan in a fortnight.