On Saturday, the White-Blues will play in Kazan during the Russian Premier League matchday 28. We have picked out the key details about Leonid Slutsky's team performance this year.
In the first part of the season, Rubin played inconsistently and was at the bottom of the standings. But after winter training camps the team won 6 out of 8 matches and climbed to 4th place. Rubin are ahead of PFC Sochi, PFC CSKA, and FC Dynamo only due to higher performance.
At the same time, it is difficult to say that their squad strengthened significantly. The Japanese attacking midfielder Mitsuki Saito - who was the main winter transfer of the team - very soon after joining the club got an injury and has not returned to the field yet. The other newcomers, Leon Musayev and Mikhail Kostyukov, play regularly. However, the latter missed the previous fixture due to injury.
Rubin Kazan could not count on Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Denis Makarov against FC Krasnodar. Without their leaders, Kazan players created a minimum of goal chances and suffered a home defeat – 0:1. The absence of the injured Georgian midfielder may become the source of major concern for Kazan at the end of the season. According to media reports, the most creative player in the current Rubin squad is to leave for one of the Top-5 European championships this summer.
After the defeat by Krasnodar, Slutsky complained that the team didn’t have enough experience of big matches and his players didn’t cope with the responsibility.
Rubin and the White-Blues have one of the youngest teams in the league. Both sides play a similar scheme with four defenders in the line, one defensive midfielder, and one centre-forward.
Djordje Despotović plays at the forefront of the Kazan attack. The Serbian forward is having the best season in his career. He has already scored 11 goals and made 4 assists. He scored the only goal in the first-round match at the VTB Arena. Dynamo took revenge at the winter training camp in Turkey defeating Rubin by 3:2, but even in this match, Despotović made a brace.
Denis Makarov, who was suspended for the previous matchday, and In-beom Hwang, who has finally recovered from his injury, should play against Dynamo from the first minutes. The Korean made his first appearance in the starting line-up after the winter break and spent 80 minutes on the pitch against Krasnodar. At the pre-match press conference, Sandro Schwarz also singled out Darko Jevtić, who brought Rubin two wins in the last three matches with his long-range shots.
In the spring part of the season, Rubin Kazan conceded only 5 goals thanks to the confident play of their goalkeeper Yury Dyupin and the unchanged defensive line. But Slutsky has to make necessary changes before the match with Dynamo because the Croatian centre-back Filip Uremović will miss this fixture due to suspension. Probably, his compatriot Silvije Begić will replace Uremović in the starting line-up. The number 4 came out as a substitute only twice after the winter break.
Rubin is one of the toughest opponents for Dynamo in Russian history, but last season the White-Blues finally broke a 13-year unlucky streak in Kazan thanks to a goal scored by Sebastian Szymanski. This season, Rubin play poorly in Kazan and hold only 12th place according to points earned in home matches – 18.
You can watch Rubin vs Dynamo on the Russian Premier Liga YouTube channel on May 1st. The kick-off is at 14:00.