Twente progress after early scare
Eredivisie side FC Twente weathered an early storm from Rubin Kazan to seal their place in the last 16 of the Europa League with a 2-2 draw at the Arke Stadion.
After claiming a 2-0 win in the first leg in Russia, Michel Preud'homme's side were heavy favourites to progress until Cristian Ansaldi and Cristian Noboa scored twice in the space of three minutes to set up a potential reversal.
But Twente matched their opponents' efforts in front of goal, Theo Janssen and Douglas scoring either side of half-time to tie the scores for a 4-2 aggregate victory.
Peter Wisgerhof had the first chance of the game for the hosts, testing Sergei Ryzhikov from the edge of the area after seven minutes.
It took Kazan 10 minutes to return fire, Noboa the shooter, unsuccessfully, from 20 yards.
After 22 minutes the deadlock was broken with Gonzalez Cesar Navas providing the assist from the left channel and Ansaldi finishing with a low left-footed strike from just inside the penalty area.
Kazan took just two more minutes to double their lead and level the tie.
Alexander Ryazantsev provided the final ball this time, finding Noboa who drilled home from similar range to the first.
Twente needed to shift the momentum and were almost back in the match before half an hour had passed, veteran Denny Landzaat crossing for Bryan Ruiz, who was denied by the crossbar.
The chances dried up from there and it looked as though it would be 2-0 at half-time, but that was until Janssen stepped in with a 25-yard strike moments before the whistle to raise Twente's hopes.
Barely a minute of the second period had passed when the visitors' lead vanished completely as Janssen's corner was headed home by Douglas.
From there, Kazan's task looked a forlorn one.
They struggled to recover from the double blow and created just scraps going forward, with Douglas and Robert Rosales more than happy to sweep up at the back.
Each side made their full compliment of changes but the result now looked assured, with Rosales called upon only to clear the odd hopeful cross from a deflated Kazan.
FC Twente 2-2 Rubin Kazan: Match Report - view commentary, squad, and statictics of the game as it happened.
Source: DSG
