In-form Kornilenko loaned to Rubin

Belarusian international striker Sergei Kornilenko has joined UEFA Champions League group stage contenders FC Rubin Kazan on loan, the FC Zenit St. Petersburg player having spent the first half of the Russian season at FC Tom Tomsk.

The 27-year-old scored 11 goals in 15 league games for Tom in the first half of the campaign, with a club statement reading: "It is a pity to lose our top scorer and one of the league's best strikers, but unfortunately it is up to Zenit to decide where he goes and not us." Capped 41 times by Belarus, the former FC Lokomotiv Vitebsk and FC Dinamo Minsk forward initially moved abroad to play for FC Dynamo Kyiv, but settled with another Ukrainian club, FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.

He then moved to Tom in 2008, leaving for Zenit on a four-and-a-half year contract the following year before rejoining the Siberian club on loan. Rubin will play FC Barcelona, Panathinaikos FC and FC København in UEFA Champions League Group D.