{"id":1964,"date":"2013-04-11T05:34:47","date_gmt":"2013-04-11T05:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigerian-newspapers\/europa-rubin-kazan-boss-responds-to-mikel-comments\/"},"modified":"2013-04-11T05:34:47","modified_gmt":"2013-04-11T05:34:47","slug":"europa-rubin-kazan-boss-responds-to-mikel-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/europa-rubin-kazan-boss-responds-to-mikel-comments\/","title":{"rendered":"Europa: Rubin Kazan boss responds to Mikel comments"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rubin Kazan manager Kurban Berdyev understands John Obi Mikel\u2019s negativity towards the Europa League but says his players will have no such problems getting fired up for Thursday\u2019s second leg tie in Moscow.<\/p>\n

The Russian side trail 3-1 from the first leg at Stamford Bridge, after which Chelsea midfielder Mikel admitted he was struggling for motivation for Europa League football.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can understand the players of Chelsea,\u201d Berdyev said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are the last winners of the Champions league and I can understand that the Europa League is not too significant for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, for our players, it\u2019s a big interest, a big motivation and we have no problems for these games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rubin have a full squad to choose from, with the exception of midfielders Yann M\u2019Vila and Alexei Eremenko.<\/p>\n

Asked about Chelsea\u2019s team, Berdyev was uncertain due to the rotation utilised by Rafael Benitez in a congested fixture schedule, plus the absences of Ashley Cole and Ryan Bertrand which mean the visitors may field an unfamiliar left-back.<\/p>\n

Berdyev said, \u201cWe know perfectly the situation. We\u2019re waiting for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

The coach also dismissed the potential impact of the artificial pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think they have a problem because they\u2019re players of top level,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we have some advantage with the artificial field.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Posted in Nigerian Newspapers. <\/a>A DisNaija.Com<\/a> network.<\/p>\n

Source: Punch Newspaper<\/p>\n

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