Rubin held in drab draw

Both sides needed to make up significant ground on Barcelona and FC Copenhagen in the group, but surprisingly the Greek side showed very little ambition, while Rubin were unable to break the visitors down.

Rubin have scored just once in their last six Champions League games, and it was easy to see why as despite applying wave upon wave of pressure on the Panathinaikos goal, they could not muster the touch of quality in front of goal required to break the deadlock.

Gilberto Silva returned for the visitors following suspension, while Rubin coach Kurban Berdyev made one change to the side which drew 0-0 in Athens two weeks ago with Carlos Eduardo replacing Gokdeniz Karadeniz.

Panathinaikos should have been buoyed by their win over rivals Olympiacos at the weekend, but the Greek side were subdued from the outset, as the hosts dictated the early exchanges.

Berdyev's side could have been in front as early as the 15th minute after Sergey Kornilenko latched on to a pinpoint through ball from Bibras Natkho down the right, but Alexandros Tzorvas made a fine reflex block at his near post.

Rubin edged possession throughout the first half, and the visitors were almost behind on the half hour as Jean-Alain Boumsong dallied on the ball and was dispossessed by Eduardo, but Cedric Kante made a timely last-gasp intervention.

Tzorvas was kept incredibly busy throughout, and the Panathinaikos keeper pulled off a blinding save to deny an Aleksandr Ryazantsev header from Vitali Kaleshin's whipped cross.

Neither manager deemed it necessary to make any changes at the break, and a scrappy opening to the second half ensued as the visitors appeared reluctant to commit players forward in their droves in pursuit of a breakthrough.

Boumsong continued to look hapless at the back for the Greek side, and the Frenchman was finally substituted just before the hour mark as Nikolaos Nioplias introduced Stergos Marinos.

Ryazantsev squandered a glorious chance to break the deadlock just minutes later as he hurtled through on goal with just Tzorvas to beat, but his touch was shoddy as the chance went begging.

Tzorvas was the undoubted star, and the Panathinaikos keeper made two stunning saves in quick succession to deny Kornilenko and Cesar Navas, who both were convinced they had grabbed a winner, only for their efforts to be saved.

The draw sees Rubin record their third draw of the campaign to leave them with three points, while Panathinaikos recorded their second to continue to languish on two points.