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Rubin hope for more reason to cheer

FC Rubin Kazan coach Kurban Berdyev expects a game "played at full throttle" as the newly crowned Russian champions meet FC Dynamo Kyiv with both in the hunt for a knockout stage spot.

Rubin hope for more reason to cheer
Rubin hope for more reason to cheer ©UEFA.com

FC Rubin Kazan coach Kurban Berdyev expects a game "played at full throttle" as the newly crowned Russian champions meet FC Dynamo Kyiv with both in the hunt for a place in the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League. Rubin will progress should they beat Dynamo and FC Barcelona lose at home to Group F leaders FC Internazionale Milano, and having taken four points off the holders in their past two matches they head into the game believing anything is possible. Dynamo prop up the section, but are only two points off the summit and come into the game buoyed by a 3-0 victory against rivals FC Shakhtar Donetsk on Saturday, as well as the three points gained when these two met on Matchday 1.

Kurban Berdyev, Rubin coach
It's very important that we won the Russian title on Saturday which means the players don't have to think about the final domestic match of the season and can concentrate fully on this game. The players have recovered and are ready. The most important thing on Tuesday is the result, not how we play, though I presume the match will be played at full throttle with both teams going for it. I've watched a lot of Dynamo matches and they are strong and deserve to be in the Champions League. They have changed a bit since our first meeting and play at a higher tempo now.

Valeri Gazzaev, Dynamo coach
I congratulate Rubin for their deserved triumph in the Premier-Liga. As for us, we have 15 international players so the schedule for most of the team is very tough. We have a minimum of eight matches per month, but if we want to succeed in Europe we have to live with that. We have a recovery plan and we stick to it after every match, just as we did after the win over Shakhtar. Unfortunately, Olexandr Aliyev turned his ankle [on international duty for Ukraine] and has stayed in Kyiv, so he will not play. Our players are in a better mood now than they were after the home tie against Inter and following Ukraine's matches against Greece.

Weekend results

21/11/09 Rubin 0-0FC Zenit St. Petersburg

• The point was enough for Rubin to retain their crown with one game to spare as although the draw ended their run of four straight wins, FC Spartak Moskva's 3-2 loss to PFC CSKA Moskva ensured they cannot be caught.

• Rubin are the first team from outside Moscow to win the Russian title more than once.

21/11/09 Dynamo 3-0FC Shakhtar Donetsk
(Milevskiy 45 54, Yarmolenko 61)

• Dynamo are now six points clear at the top – and seven ahead of Shakhtar – after they inflicted their rivals' first league defeat this season.

• Fernandinho missed an early Shakhtar penalty and Andriy Shevchenko then set up both of Artem Milevskiy's goals.

Team news
Rubin
Out: none
Doubtful: none
Suspended: none
Misses next match if booked: Cristian Ansaldi, Sergei Semak

• Rafał Murawski has been out since 30 October with an arm injury but was an unused substitute on Saturday.

Dynamo
Out: Badr El Kaddouri (ankle), Pape Diakhate (knee), Yevgen Khacheridi (toe), Olexandr Aliyev (ankle)
Doubtful: none
Suspended: Leandro Almeida
Misses next match if booked: Gérson Magrão, Artem Milevskiy

Background
• After a shattering last-gasp home defeat by Inter on Matchday 4, another loss on Tuesday would end Dynamo's hopes of reaching the last 16 for the first time since 1999/2000.

• After holding both Inter and Barcelona at the Centralniy Stadium, Rubin are seeking their maiden home victory in the competition in their first meeting with Ukrainian opposition on Russian soil.

• Dynamo coach Gazzaev failed three times to help former employers PFC CSKA Moskva progress from the group stage, though he did lead them to the UEFA Cup in 2004/05, the first European success for a Russian side.

Did you know?
Although a Russian international, Rubin midfielder Sergei Semak was born in the eastern Ukrainian border region of Luhansk. He played under Gazzaev at CSKA from 2002 to 2004.

For more information on the match in the official press kit, click here.