It does not, it must be said, look good. Only two eastern European sides remain in European competition this season, and after both drew the home leg of their latest ties 1-1, it could easily be that by the end of this week there is no former eastern bloc side left in either Europa League or Champions League. That would be worrying enough, but with the financial crisis gripping Russian and Ukrainian football, it could be that this is a troubling sign of things to come.

Rubin Kazan fight for their Europa League life against Wolfsburg on Thursday, while tonight CSKA Moscow travel to Sevilla in the Champions League. Given no Russian side has reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League since Spartak in 1996, and CSKA are the first eastern side to reach the last 16 since Lokomotiv in 2003-04, progress for them would almost make this season feel like a triumph for Russia, despite the under performance in the Europa League. How likely it is, is another matter.

CSKA may draw encouragement from memories of their only previous competitive visit to Spain, in 1992-93, when, after a 1-1 draw in the first leg,

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