The representatives of Kazan, the capital of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, continued their winning streak on Saturday when they beat Dynamo Moscow 2-0 in the Russian capital, goals coming from Turkish international Gokdeniz Karadeniz and former CSKA star Sergei Semak.
With second-placed Lokomotiv Moscow drawing at home to Spartak Nalchik on Sunday, Rubin now have a seven point lead at the top of the table. They are also an incredible 14 points ahead of 2007 champions Zenit.
Rubin splashed out during the close season, bringing in a number of Russian and foreign players, including Karadeniz, Semak and 34-year-old Savo Milosevic, the former Yugoslavian and Serbian international and one-time Aston Villa striker. However, spending big in Russia is no guarantee of success in soccer, as Dynamo Moscow found out a few seasons ago when, despite spending over $150 million to bring in a host of Russian and foreign internationals, they failed to even earn a UEFA Cup place.
Kubran Berdiyev, the club's manager, has not let success go to his head though, usually merely remarking, "Glory to Allah, we won," after each match. A similarly reserved Savo Milosevic commented after Saturday's game that "a better start to the season" could not possibly be imagined.
Rubin's next match is at home to the perennial 1990s champions, Spartak Moscow, on May 3. Spartak, like 2005 UEFA Cup winners, CSKA Moscow , have also found it hard to come by points this season, the two clubs currently eleven and ten points behind Rubin, respectively.
Zenit St. Petersburg's game against the Chechen side Terek was postponed to allow the team to concentrate on preparations for Thursday's UEFA Cup semi-final against Bayern Munich. The first game ended 1-1 in Germany on April 24.
Results: 25-27 April
Dynamo Moscow 0 Rubin 2
Lokomotiv Moscow 0 Spartak Nalchik 0
Luch Energiya (Vladivostok) 1 CSKA Moscow 3
Amkar (Perm) 2 Shinnik (Yaroslavl) 0
Tom Tomsk 0 Saturn (Moscow Region) 1
Spartak 1 Moskva 1
Khimki (Moscow Region) 1 Krilya Sovetov (Samara) 0
Table after 7 games
Rubin - 21
Lokomotiv - 14
Dynamo - 14
Amkar -13
CSKA - 11
Krilya Sovetov - 10
Spartak - 10
Terek (six games played) - 9
Saturn - 8
Zenit (six games played) - 7
Spartak Nalchik - 7
Tom Tomsk - 7
Shinnik - 5
Luch Energiya - 5
Khimki - 5
Moskva - 4
