Back Rubin to hold Chelsea at Stamford Bridge

4Apr 2013

Europa Liga

Jonathan Wilson thinks Kurban Berdyev's side have the quality to take something out of the game at Stamford Bridge tonight...

Kurban Berdyev is almost certainly the most famous Turkmenistani in modern football. He led Rubin Kazan (16.5 to win the Europa league) to the Russian title two seasons running and on Thursday he will be on the away bench at Stamford Bridge, trying to mastermind the downfall of Chelsea (3.75) and guide his side to their first European semi-final.

Although they have the backing of the Tartarstan state government, Rubin don't have the sort of financial muscle of a CSKA, a Zenit or a Spartak. Berdyev's skill has been to patch together a team of bargains and older players, squeezing an extra year or two out of the likes of Serhiy Rebrov, Savo Milosevoc and Sergei Semak when their careers seemed over (although even his abilities couldn't breathe new life into Obafemi Martins). He seems to have a preternatural sense of which players will work well in combination, a great capacity to blend a balanced side.

And he is tough, at one glance at his eyes will tell you. "He's not really a motivator; he's more a dictator," said the South African midfielder MacBeth Sibaya, who spent nine years at Rubin after singing from Rosenborg in 2003. "You have to do what he's telling you, otherwise you're sitting on the bench. He's very strict - the players who go out, the players who drink a lot...He monitors everything."

On the bench Berdyev tends to sit all but motionless - in a tracksuit for home games, a shirt buttoned to the neck away, often topped with a maroon V-necked jumper for away - the hair that remains to the sides of his balding head always neatly clipped. And in his hand are his famed prayer-beads which he fidgets with through games - usually the only sign of any emotion he betrays. "I just feel that I have to keep them in my hands when I'm watching a game," Berdyev explained. "I don't feel well without them. There were a couple of times when I accidentally forgot to take them to matches and I felt uncomfortable as though I were missing something."

Berdyev is a devout Muslim and took a mufti from the Kul-Shrif mosque, the largest in Tartarstan, to the Nou Camp for the game in October 2009 in which Rubin beat Barcelona 2-1 to announce themselves as a force in Russian football, but also possibly in the European game. There is perhaps a slight sense of frustration that they have not kicked on from that but given the economics of the Russia game a slight regression was inevitable.

And Berdyev has built again. This is arguably his best side since the team that won the title in 2009. They are fourth, 14 points off the top of the Russian table, their season undermined by an inconsistent September and October but a run of seven straight wins in all competitions from the end of October through November, culminating in a 3-0 demolition of Internazionale, showed their capability before defeats in their two final league games before the winter break.

They've started the new year in fine form, though, beating Atletico Madrid and Levante over two legs and conceding just one goal in seven matches. The shape, as it always is with Berdyev, is a 4-2-3-1, with the real strength of the side the holding pair of the Spaniard Pablo Orbaiz and the Israeli Biibras Natkho.

The Venezuelan striker Jose Rondon, picked up from Malaga in the summer, is a raw but willing front runner. At Stamford Bridge he will almost certainly be the lonest of lone forwards as Rubin look to squeeze out a 0-0 draw, as they did in Levante (at Atletico they were similarly defensive, scored through Gokdeniz Karadeniz early and then nicked a second in the last minute as Diego Simeone sent his goalkeeper up for a corner).

Given Chelsea conceded at home in earlier rounds to Sparta Prague and Steaua Bucharest, both of whom sat deep and attacked on the break, there is reason for concern. Rubin may not win, but at 1.58 Chelsea are far too short and under 2.5 goals looks attractive at 1.83.

Correct score bets of 0-0 (11.5) and 1-0 to Rubin 18 look attractive if you want to be a little more adventurous.

Recommended Bet

Lay Chelsea at 1.59

Back under 2.5 goals at 1.83