KAZAN, Russia, July 25 (R-Sport) – Football team Rubin Kazan joined fellow Russian club Kuban in the third qualifying round of the Europa League on Thursday by knocking out Serbian minnows Jagodina 4-2 on aggregate.
Rubin will be the favorite to progress still further, as Kurban Berdyev's men are up against Danish side Randers for a place in the playoffs.
Gokdeniz Karadeniz scored for Rubin on 52 minutes to give his side a 1-0 victory for the night, nodding into an empty net after a perfectly timed cross from Vagiz Galiulin that took the goalkeeper out of the equation.
"It was a tough game," Berdyev said. "We were better in the second half when the players started moving. Thank God it all finished OK," he added.
His counterpart Mladen Dodic was deflated.
"We were counting on the win and did everything to make it happen," he said. "It's a shame we couldn't take our chance in the first half, a goal would have raised our spirits and given us a better chance of getting a result."
Rubin travels to Denmark on August 1 before hosting Randers in Tatarstan for the return leg a week later.
Rubin nearly gave its visitors the lead on 13 minutes as Cesar Navas was short with a backpass; but his blushes were spared by fellow Spaniard Ivan Marcano, who blocked Filip Arsenievic's shot at an otherwise open goal.
At the other end, Jose Salomon Rondon, the scorer of the third goal in a 3-2 win last week in Serbia, flashed a shot just wide.
A dour half hour was interrupted by Rubin's opener, set up on a fast counterattack started by Rondon.
Rubin's Iranian substitute Sardar Azmoun should have doubled his side's lead on 83 minutes, but the 18-year-old forward couldn't find a way past Andelko Duricic in the Jagodina goal.
The Serbians never seriously threatened aside from the early gift, and their misery was complete in the third minute of injury time, when right back Dusko Dukic was sent off for a second bookable offense.
Rubin and Kuban are seeking to join Anzhi Makhachkala in the group stage of the tournament. Spartak Moscow is in the playoffs.
