Blues through despite mishaps in Moscow

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Rubin Kazan 3 Chelsea 2 (Chelsea win 5-4 on aggregate)

Chelsea conceded three second-half goals in Moscow but still secured a place in the semi-finals of the Europa League.

They were in complete control after Fernando Torres netted his 20th goal of the season, but their opponents went down fighting.

Rubin Kazan scored six minutes after the break and then twice more following Victor Moses’ goal, but it was not enough to prevent last season’s European champions going through.

With the freezing weather conditions in Rubin’s home region of Tartarstan having resulted in a change of venue, the quarter-final second leg was played at a sparsely populated Luzhniki Stadium in the Russian capital.

Cesar Azpilicueta of Chelsea
Azpilicueta gave away a penalty.

Interim manager Rafael Benitez, who deployed Paulo Ferreira at left-back and youngster Nathan Ake in the Blues midfield, had warned his players not to let the eerie setting affect the tempo of their play.

And they responded by scoring after only five minutes – extending their aggregate lead and matching the away goal Rubin managed in the first leg.

Frank Lampard delivered a fine through-ball and Torres did the rest, lobbing home from 30 yards past keeper Sergei Ryzhikov.

Chelsea dominated most of the half but Rubin threatened when Alan Kasaev ran beyond Ake and past John Terry before finding Roman Eremenko, whose low shot from the edge of the box was comfortably saved by Petr Cech.

The Chelsea keeper then made an excellent stop to deny Gokdeniz Karadeniz.

Cech was unable to keep out Ivan Marcano’s header but when Moses finished nicely following a one-two with Ramires, the Premier League side were comfortable again.

But Rubin battled on and Gokdeniz Karadeniz climbed above Ake to head in, before Bebras Natcho netted a 75th-minute penalty after Aleksandr Ryazantsev had been pushed by Cesar Azpilicueta.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1):  Cech; Azpilicueta, Terry, Luiz, Ferreira; Ake, Lampard (Ivanovic 90), Ramires (Mikel 61), Moses, Benayoun (Oscar 76), Torres.
Subs not used: Turnbull, Mata, Hazard, Marin.

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