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Rubin Kazan provide the opposition at Anfield on Thursday night for Jurgen Klopp 's first home game as Liverpool manager.

The Reds will be looking to kick-start their Europa League campaign after the frustration of back to back 1-1 draws with Bordeaux and FC Sion.

Kazan sit bottom of Group B after losing 2-1 away to Sion before a goalless stalemate at home to Bordeaux.

The ECHO caught up with Russian football expert John Bradley, who as well as working for LFC TV provides English commentary on Russian Premier League games for television channels across the globe, to get the lowdown on Kazan ahead of the first ever meeting between the clubs.

Rubin Kuzan sit 12th out of 16 clubs in their domestic league with just 10 points from 12 league games. What have you made of them this season?

I've watched around half of their matches and they haven't impressed me.

They started the season very poorly and lost their first four league matches. In September they sacked their manager Rinat Bilyaletdinov, the father of Diniyar, who played for Everton and now plays for Kazan.

They gave the job to Valeriy Chaly who was the assistant manager previously and there has been an improvement. They had a good win over Ufa last weekend.

They only qualified for Europe because Dynamo Moscow were banned from playing in the Europa League due to failing to comply with Financial Fair Play rules.

Kazan took their place and just about scrapped through the qualifiers.

They weren't that bad on matchday two against Bordeaux but in their first game away to Sion they were awful. In fact they were even worse against Sion than Liverpool were against Sion!

Kazan had established a real reputation on the European stage. They famously beat Barcelona in the Champions League at the Nou Camp in 2009. Then in 2013 they only narrowly lost to Chelsea in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. Why have they fallen on hard times?

When they won the Russian Premier League two years in a row under Gurban Berdiýew in 2008 and 2009 they were a real force. Back then they were signing players for £10million to £15m.

But from the team that ran Chelsea so close over two legs two-and-a-half years ago there are only three players still at the club. The change in personnel has been huge.

That's down to finance. They are financed by the government of the Republic of Tatarstan and the decision was taken to cut back.

Over the past two seasons they have lost a lot of their good, experienced foreign players with the emphasis now on developing young players from their academy.

From the moment they stopped paying the big money, they've been on a downward spiral. Last season they did well to finish fifth.

What star names have left the club in recent years?

They have pretty much lost the heartbeat of the team and it's been a difficult transitional period for them.

Striker Salomon Rondon went to Zenit before joining West Brom this summer. Cristian Ansaldi went to Zenit and then Atletico Madrid.

They lost experienced defenders like Cesar Navas and Ivan Marcano, who is now at Porto.

You used to look through their team and there was real quality – good South American players like Argentine Alejandro Domínguez. That's no longer the case.

Who are their key figures now?

Gokdeniz Karadeniz is an ex-Turkey international who has been at the club for seven years.

He's the last one remaining really in terms of the big foreign players. He's 35 now but still plays on the wing and still contributes. But he's only half the player he was.

The keeper, Sergei Ryzhikov, went to the last World Cup with Russia, while the right-back Oleg Kuzmin is their captain and leader.

He was known mainly for being the dirtiest player in the Russian League and picking up loads of red cards.

But he's enjoying a great spell at the moment. He was called up by Russia, scored for them against Montenegro to help them qualify for the Euros last week and then scored twice for Kazan last weekend, including one from 25 yards.

What about going forward? How important for them is the Brazilian attacker Carlos Eduardo, who they bought for 20million euros from Hoffenheim in 2010?

He came through the ranks at Gremio with Lucas Leiva so they know each other well. They broke through into the first team together. He was in Brazil's preliminary squad for the 2010 World Cup.

When he first signed from Hoffenheim he scored twice on his debut and looked like an absolute world beater.

But he got a serious knee injury which kept him out for nearly two and a half years. At one point it looked like he would have to retire. He had a loan spell back in Brazil before returning for Kazan.

He's still a tidy footballer but since he's been back he's no longer got the pace.

Eduardo will play just behind Igor Portnyagin, a Russian striker who has been at Kazan for seven years. He's had six spells out on loan but last season he scored 10 league goals.

He's like (ex-Aston Villa striker) Ian Olney. He's a big beanpole.

Is a first ever meeting with Liverpool a big deal for Kazan?

There's huge excitement surrounding these games for Kazan because it's Liverpool FC.

They see these two games as bigger than when they played Chelsea in the quarter-finals.

The Kazan Arena hosted the World Swimming Championships back in July. They dug the football pitch up, put in the pool and put in temporary stands.

They said they would eventually get around to turning it all back but there wasn't any great rush because of the small crowds Kazan were getting.

Then they got Liverpool in the draw. The fans demanded that the game was played in the Kazan Arena so they have taken out the pool, rushed it all through and relaid the pitch to ensure it's ready for Liverpool's visit.

They have turned it back into a football stadium purely because Liverpool are coming to town.

Will they take the game to Liverpool at Anfield or park the bus?

Definitely the latter. They don't many score goals. They will come and defend.

They will start with four at the back, two midfielders sitting in front and the wide men playing pretty deep too. Then Eduardo playing behind Portnyagin.

They will get plenty of men behind the ball and try to frustrate Liverpool for as long as possible.

Can Kazan spoil the party on Klopp's home bow?

I doubt it. There's nothing for Liverpool to be scared about.

There isn't really anyone in the Kazan side who should cause Liverpool problems. They are the weakest team in the group and I'd expect Liverpool to prove too strong for them.