Win puts Twente in box-seat
FC Twente put one foot in the last 16 of the Europa League as they claimed victory at a freezing Luzhniki Stadium.
The goals came late for Twente as striker Luuk de Jong got the opening goal for the Dutch visitors with just 13 minutes remaining as he headed home a cross from Theo Janssen.
De Jong then almost turned in a Denny Landzaat corner, but Peter Wisgerhof was on hand to tap home the rebound in the 88th minute and give Michel Preud'homme's side a win they just about merited.
The clash had to be moved to the Moscow stadium because of its artificial surface, and a 3pm kick-off time was decided on in an effort to beat the fierce cold snap that has hit the Russian capital.
The game had been in doubt until shortly before kick off, with Twente refusing a request to switch the legs around and play the first game in Holland, but it went ahead in a near-empty stadium.
The freezing conditions, temperatures were as low as minus 15 degrees Celsius, made for a very slow start to proceedings.
It took Twente time to settle and the first meaningful efforts on goal came from the hosts, who had not played a game since their Champions League defeat to Barcelona in December, as Bebars Natcho headed straight at Nikolay Mihailov, before Vladimir Dyadyun drilled wide.
Brazilian defender Douglas then made a vital block to deny Igor Lebedenko as the hosts continued to carve out the better chances.
Mihailov was called into action again at the start of the second period as he kept out a Dyadyun header.
But Twente grew into the game and began to exert some meaningful pressure as the influential Janssen shot narrowly wide of the right-hand upright.
Roberto Rosales then also went close for Twente and Cesar Navas had to make a brilliant block to deny Nacer Chadli from point-blank range.
The long gap between fixtures appeared to be affecting the hosts, who were tiring in the face of the onslaught from the visitors, and their run of chances eventually bore dividends from the resulting corner.
Janssen picked out De Jong and the striker made no mistake with his header.
Cristian Ansaldi got in a shot from distance on an increasingly rare foray forward for Rubin, before Wisgerhof doubled the lead in the dying minutes to leave Twente in complete control of the tie.
Rubin Kazan 0-2 FC Twente: Match Report - view commentary, squad, and statictics of the game as it happened.
Source: DSG
