Jose Rondon: 'We stayed strong'

Rubin Kazan striker Jose Rondon has praised his teammates for staying strong in extra time to defeat Levante 2-0 on Thursday night to reach the Europa League quarter-finals.

Despite Rubin's progress, however, Rondon said that the club would not plan too far ahead in what is a "difficult competition".

"It was a very difficult match," UEFA.com quotes him as saing. "We knew Levante had a lot of fight and they would cause us problems. It went to extra time but we were strong physically and we managed to win. I'm happy, we did a great job. We have to continue like this.

"Rubin's objective has always been the same: we take it match by match. The knockout stages are pretty difficult and this is a difficult competition.

"There are teams with a lot of experience. I have no preference who we face now. It's all pretty much the same in the end - the competitive teams who have made it this far have made it this far for a reason."

Rondon scored the opener in the first half of extra time in Rubin's win on Thursday night.