Inter were held to a draw at Rubin Kazan in the Champions League but they will be relieved, after ending the game with 10 men.

Rubin took the lead in the 11th minute thanks to Alejandro Dominguez but the hosts gifted Dejan Stankovic the equaliser on the half hour.

The hosts were somewhat unfortunate not to take all three points after playing out the final half hour at a feverish pace following the dismissal of Mario Balotelli for a second bookable offence.

It is Inter's second draw in Group F following their goaless draw at home to Barcelona a fortnight ago.

Rubin started the brighter and Inter were obviously struggling to deal with their pacy attack.

And the Russians took the lead after less than 11 minutes when Dominguez raced downfield sprinting first past Lucio and then eluding Walter Samuel before unleashing a wicked shot from the edge of the area into the top right corner.

Dominguez almost doubled his tally just two minutes later but Inter goalkeeper Julio Cesar did well to tip the Argentinian's free-kick over the crossbar.

Rubin were in complete control and wasted a glorious opportunity to extend their lead minutes later as Cesar Navas headed Dominguez's cross over the bar from a brilliant position less than six yards out.

That seemed to spark Inter into life and Samuel Eto'o almost equalised in the 21st minute when he controlled Maicon's pass before unleashing a powerful effort which Sergei Ryzhikov did well to turn away for a corner.

Lucio should have scored from Balotelli's corner but he blazed woefully over from close range.

Rubin shot themselves in the foot in the 27th minute when Maicon picked out an unmarked Stankovic near the six-yard box and the Serbia international was allowed a completely free header to equalise.

Having levelled matters, Inter almost instantly took the lead but Ryzhikov tipped Balotelli's effort on to the crossbar.

The hosts came close to restoring their advantage in the 38th minute, as Dominguez sent Aleksandr Bukharov clear with a great through-ball, and would have done had not Lucio made a great last-ditch tackle just as the Russian was about to pull the trigger.

And Lucio had a good chance to put his side in front in first-half stoppage-time but the Brazilian fired wide of the right upright from the corner of the penalty area.

Balotelli came close to giving Inter the lead in the 55th minute as he drilled his effort inches past the right hand post from 25 yards.

Things went from bad to worse for the Nerazzurri minutes later when they were reduced to 10 men as Balotelli was shown a second yellow for a needless tackle on Cristian Noboa.

Inter reacted by pushing for an immediate goal and almost got it as Esteban Cambiasso saw his 25-yard screamer blocked by Sergei Semak.

Rubin slowly began to make the most of the extra man advantage and started to once again take control of the game.

The final half hour was played at a feverish pace but Lucio and Samuel went some way to atoning for their earlier errors as they dealt with everything Rubin threw at them.

Anything that did get through the wall of Nerazzurri shirts was aptly handed by Julio Cesar who did well to tip Cristian Ansaldi's effort round the post after the Argentinian defender had nicked the ball off Eto'o.

However, they came very close to nabbing the winner nine minutes from time when Semak managed to beat the Inter goalkeeper from close range only to see his tight-angled shot rebound off the right upright to safety.