Rubin hold Hapoel to earn Wolfsburg date

FC Rubin Kazan held Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC to a goalless draw in Israel to advance to the UEFA Europa League round of 16 as 3-0 aggregate winners.

Hapoel struck the crossbar early on but, save for a Douglas da Silva shot against the post in the 76th minute, otherwise posed little threat to a Rubin side whose work was done on home soil. The architect of that convincing first-leg triumph, two-goal Aleksandr Bukharov, was not made to pay for missing excellent opportunities in either half as the Russian club won through to a tie against VfL Wolfsburg.

Hope homes were raised in the second minute at Bloomfield when Dani Bondarv fizzed a shot in from the corner of the area which looked to be going in after deflecting off Christian Noboa, only for the ball to rebound off the crossbar.

Bukharov's first opportunity of note came in the 14th minute. Alan Kasaev created it superbly, dancing past Gal Shish and Maaran Lala down the left before teeing up the unmarked striker who failed to connect with the goal gaping.

A torrential downpour made slick football difficult, and although the rain eased off after the interval, clear openings were scarce. One arrived in the 53rd minute as Bukharov timed a run from midfield perfectly to reach a low through ball. He had the freedom of the Hapoel half and time to pick his spot which, unfortunately for him, was just the wrong side of Vincent Enyeama's post.

Hapoel coach Eli Gutman responded by switching Da Silva from defence to attack. The move almost paid dividends as the Brazilian met a neat pass from Etey Shechter and flicked the ball over Sergei Ryzhikov but against the post with a little over 15 minutes to play.