Hapoel Tel-Aviv - Rubin Kazan
Football: Europa League. 1/16 finals, 2nd leg.
Wednesday, 25th February 2010. Kickoff 21:05

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Hapoel Tel-Aviv

Hapoel will need to jump above their heads in front of home fans in order to progress to the next round. Heavy first leg defeat in cold-frozen Kazan' 0-3 leaves little hope for the Isralean side.

Hapoel triumphed in derby of Tel-Aviv on Monday as they beat city rivals and league leaders Maccabi 2-4. Lala,Schechter x 2 and D.Silva were on mark for the formal visitors.

Bloomfield Stadium has been a real fortress at the group stage of Europa League. Hapoel will look to take the 100% record to the play-offs. So far some significant scalps have been collected in Tel-Aviv: Celtic,Rapid Wien and Hamburger SV all failed to take anything away from the Bloomfield Stadium.

Hapoel's head coach can't count on key striker Itay Shechter. 23-year-old forward got injured vs. Maccabi.Former Birmingham City player De Ridder may get the starting position alongside Lala.

Expected formation and line up :
Hapoel Tel-Aviv (4-4-2)
Enyama
Bondarv,Douglas Da Silva,Badir,Shish
Vermouth,Yadin,Natkho,Zahavi
Lala,De Ridder

Rubin Kazan

Despite horrible pitch and weather conditions - Rubin managed to score 3 goals in the opening match vs. Hapoel. Russian national team striker Alexandr Bukharov was on fire getting his name on the score-board and set up Sergey Semak with a beautiful lay off.

The absence of Chori Dominguez, who left for Valencia in December, was hardly felt against all the public scepticism.Indeed Rubin has done little to find a proper replacement for the key creative midfielder during the transfer window.

Kurban Berdyev has invited Turkish striker Fatih Tekke from Zenit and looks set to purchase Israel U-21 NT midfielder Natkho from today's opponent Hapoel TA. In the meantime ever young team captain Sergey Semak has been moved further up the park to take the supporting role behind Bukharov.Rafal Murawski finally looks set to acquire a regular place in the starting 11 after Semak's re-location.

Rubin is short of influential winger Alexandr Ryazantsev on the left wing of attack. Roman Sharonov is stil not available in the center of defense.Salukvadze will cover for him alongside Cesar Navas.

Expected formation and line up :
Rubin Kazan (4-2-3-1)
Ryzhikov
Kaleshin,Salukvadze,Navas,Ansaldi
Murawski,Noboa
Karadeniz,Semak,Kasaev
Bukharov

Betting advice

So why exactly do bookies rate chances as 50/50 just a week after one team thrashed the other 0-3? First of all, it's due to Hapoel's home form in Europea this season.Israelian club is still unbeaten at Bloomfield Stadium. One interesting point though, should be mentioned. If in group stage of the competition Hapoel had 3 straight wins, then at the qualifying back in August they only managed to draw Teplice and Goteborg, 1-1 on both occasions.

Another thought on bookmaker's mind must be possible low commitment from the Rubin on Thursday evening. Wouldn't be so sure about that. Rubin is a new face in Europe and taking into consideration Berdyev's serious attitude and his desire to build a positive image of the club - I am sure Russian champions' will not fool around in Tel-Aviv. What happens when they take the game seriously?

Another 5 cents - Rubin was the best away side in Russian championship last season with just 1 defeat in 15 away fixtures.

HANDICAP BETTING :

Take Rubin (O) @ 1.95 with Bet365