Rafael Benitez "respects" Rubin Kazan

Chelsea interim manager Rafael Benitez has said that he does not expect many surprises from Rubin Kazan this evening.

The Blues travel to Russia leading 3-1 as they seek to qualify for the semi-finals of the Europa League.

Benitez said that his players will need to adapt to the synthetic pitch at the Tsentralnyi Stadion, but is confident of progressing.

"We have a lot of respect for Rubin Kazan," the club's official website quotes the Spaniard as saying. "We know they are a good team. For us to lose [players] is not ideal, we have to manage the situation and we have confidence we can go through.

"In terms of the game, I think we know their team so they can do well, so maybe we have to react but I have confidence we can do well anyway. I don't see too many surprises.

"You have to play on a synthetic pitch and adapt to that but it will be the same for everyone."

Benitez won the competition with Valencia in 2004.