Rovers frozen out by Kazan sharpshooter Valdez

NELSON VALDEZ had the quality to clinically punish bad defending as Shamrock Rovers were frozen out in Kazan last night.

A brilliantly taken brace of goals from the Paraguayan international striker put Rovers to the sword as Michael O’Neill’s men lost for the fifth time in Group A.

O’Neill refused to be too downbeat afterwards. “To be fair, they reacted well to score the equaliser. At 2-1, I thought it was a very even game, but ultimately Kazan showed their quality in the second half.