By Since66
April 12 2013

So Chelsea scraped through by the skin of their teeth after an abysmal second-half defensive performance where Rubin scored with two free headers and hit the woodwork with another. I thought during the 2nd period, the game had been transferred to Transylvannia. Scared of crosses!!!

And as for that penalty?!

If you thought the penalty in the first leg was harsh, this one, awarded when Dave was judged to have fouled Ryazantsev the winker, the ref bought the lottery ticket, Ryazantsev won the jackpot, complete an utter joke!

It all got off to a nice comfortable start when after dealing with early Rubin pressure, Super Frank, still hunting those elusive two goals to become joint all-time top scorer, placed a perfect high pass for Torres to race on and lob the stranded Ryzhikov, who then watched as the ball dropped down and bounce into an empty and unguarded net, silencing the already silent crowd in and amongst the 60,000 empty seats in the Luzhniki Stadium.

Nineteen goals for Torres now. Sorry? Did you say nineteen? YEP (Ed)

Chelsea struggled to cope with the plastic pitch which is hardly surprising considering they only had one training session whereas the Russians were more familiar with the surface having played most of their Europa League games on it, but the pitch should offer no excuses for Chelsea’s almost capitulation in the second-half.

Cech pulled off a decent save at the end of the first-half, however Rubin were level five minutes into the second-half when Marcano headed in unchallenged via Cech’s right-hand post making the aggregate score 2-4 on the night.

Moses gave Chelsea the lead again after Ramires and Super Frank played a one-two on the edge of the area, before Super Frank fed in Moses who curled the ball in from just inside the area. 2-5 on aggregate.

Rubin not giving up equalised again when the smallest player on the pitch Karaeniz was allowed another free header to beat Cech, despite his efforts to save at his near post. 3-5 on aggregate.

Fifteen minutes from time, came the joke penalty which Natcho converted fiercely, funnily enough it was a duplicate of the penalty he had scored at The Bridge a week earlier, but Cech chose to dive away. 4-5 on aggregate.

Chelsea survived the final onslaught and despite the seven changes Fatty made, the team selected should have been strong enough to make the game a formality rather than a struggle.

But then again, THIS IS Chelsea Football Club.

Rubin Kazan: Ryzhikov, Kuzmin (Kaleshin h/t), Navas, Marcano, Ansaldi, Natcho, Orbaiz (Dyadyun 65), Karadeniz (c), Eremenko, Kasaev (Ryazantsev 71), Rondon.

Goals: Marcano 50, Karadeniz 62, Natcho 75 pen

Booked: Marcano 86

Chelsea: Cech, Azpilicueta, Terry (c), Luiz, Ferreira, Ake, Benayoun (Oscar 76), Lampard (Ivanovic 90), Ramires (Mikel 59), Moses, Torres.

Goals: Torres 4, Moses 55

Booked: Oscar 90

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