MOSCOW, October 22 (RIA Novosti) - Two days after a historic 2-1 win over European champions Barcelona at the Nou Camp, Rubin trainer Kurban Berdyev revealed the tactics that brought his Rubin side their famous Champions League victory.
"I watched all of Barcelona's games," the Turkmenistan-born trainer told Sport Express. "I learnt a lot from the Valencia match [a 0-0 draw on October 17]."
"It became clear that in the centre of the pitch, the assistance of a second forward was extremely important, one who would go back and close off the holding midfielder. This work fell to [Alejandro] Dominguez, who carried out a great deal of work. Without him, I don't think we would have beaten Barcelona."
"As Barcelona play with two wide full backs, it meant that there was a certain amount of space on offer. Both Dani Alves and Eric Abidal were too wide apart and the zone from which we scored our second was frequently empty," he went on. "We knew about this and worked out some options beforehand."
The match was only Rubin's third ever away match in top flight European football and came after a number of unconvincing performances in the Russian Premier League.
"Barcelona had problem areas, and we knew about this," Berdyev, who lead the side into the Russian elite seven years ago, noted. "Not only on the flanks, but in the centre."
"Actually," he added, "I shouldn't really be talking about the Catalonians in a critical way. They are Barcelona after all."
"Barcelona might have underestimated us," he concluded. "They thought 'we'll score more than one in the next hour' ahead of the game. But now they have to come to Kazan and play to get out of the group."
Rubin host Barcelona in Kazan on November 4. The Russian champions are currently joint top of Group F with Barcelona and Dynamo Kiev on four points. Inter Milan are bottom with three points.
