Russia National Football Team

Manager / Stanislav Cherchesov
Appointed / August 2016
Captain / Artem Dzyuba
Top Scorer in Euro 2020 Qualifiers / Artem Dzyuba, 9
Top Scorer in Squad (Domestic season 2020-21) / Artem Dzyuba, 20 (Zenit, Premier Liga)
Most Carded in qualifying / Aleksandr Golovin, 3 yellow cards, 1 red card
Group / B, v Belgium (St. Petersburg, 12/06/21), v Finland (St. Petersburg, 16/06/21), v Denmark (Copenhagen, 21/06/21)

* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing *

Russia Road to Euro 2020

Russia are another of the qualifiers to come from Group I and they finished the campaign as runners-up to Belgium but were never in any danger of catching the world’s No.1 side. After the highs of somewhat unexpectedly reaching the quarter-finals of the 2018 World Cup which was staged in Russia, the hype around the side seems to have levelled off. Their qualifying campaign was pretty decent as they beat all opponents twice (yes, including Scotland!), apart from Belgium who they were well beaten by on both occasions. San Marino, Kazakhstan and Cyprus made up the rest of the group so they were expected to at least take full points from those games, though. Unfortunately for Russia those qualifiers aren’t the first thing that comes to mind in terms of their recent performances. All of those matches took place in 2019 and since then they have only won four of the 11 matches they’ve played.

Russia Euro 2020 Squad

There is undoubtedly some quality in the Russian squad but they do lack the in-depth quality that several other nations are boasting going into the tournament. Many of the key players in Stanislav Cherchesov’s setup are reaching the latter stages of their careers now and that can be a worry heading into a busy major tournament. Artem Dzyuba has an undeniable knack for scoring goals and will be their biggest hope of scoring again this summer and there are a few potentially exciting players such as Aleksandr Golovin and Aleksei Miranchuk primed for action. The biggest question mark for me hangs over the depth of quality they have to call on which to me doesn’t seem to be too impressive.

Goalkeeper

One constant when looking at Russian teams from recent years was Igor Akinfeev. The long-term stopper has been capped 111 times for his country and picked up the captain’s armband in 2017. After the 2018 World Cup he retired from international duties and that left some big shoes to fill. It looks like that duty may fall upon the shoulders of Anton Shunin. His international career has been an odd one in truth and he is now 34 years of age. He first played internationally in 2007 friendly but has been in and out ever since. He went to the 2012 Euros but didn’t play and then didn’t see another call-up until after Akinfeev retired. Since the end of 2019 he has become more of a regular and represented his country in Nations League matches and their three most recent World Cup qualifiers so it seems he is now the No.1 choice. Whether his lack of international experience or the fact that he’s spent a large portion of his career away from the international setup is anything to read into is up for debate but I’m certainly interested to see how he copes this year.

Defence

Russia’s defensive line will most likely be made up of four players, but which four players is still a little bit up in the air. There are some clues in their recent past line-ups for the World Cup qualifiers in March where Cherchesov deployed the same back four in all three matches – Mario Fernandes, Andrei Semenov, Georgi Dzhikiya and Fedor Kudryashov.

If those qualifiers are any indication then it’s likely some if not all of those four will be included in the opening matchday line-up. Fernandes is a big part of the Russian setup and the 30-year-old right-back can offer some good support in attack as well as taking care of defensive duties so looks to be a pretty sure selection. The centre-back pairing of Semenov and Dzhikiya have 57 caps between them and as is typical of many of the current Russian crop have been a part of the international operation for a good few years. Despite having some experience in their ranks they aren’t renowned as a particularly great defensive side and have only kept two clean sheets in their 11 matches since the beginning of 2020 (v Moldova and Hungary).

Midfield

The midfield is often made up of two defensive midfielders and three attackers supporting a sole striker and there has been some rotation in this area recently. There are a couple of players though who look to be regulars in the middle of the park. Magomed Ozdoev who plays for Zenit often occupies a spot in the middle so I’d expect him to continue to do so with Russia likely to need a settled core if they are to enjoy any success. Daler Kuzyaev is another who has enjoyed some consistency in midfield and could also be likely to be picked for the opener against Belgium. Should Russia opt for a standard 4-3-3 rather than the 4-2-3-1 they do like to use, the third spot could go to a number of players, for example Aleksandr Golovin who may drop back from a front three or even veteran Yuri Zhrikov who is now 37. I’ve mentioned him in the midfield section here but in all honesty he could well appear anywhere in the line-up given his versatility but I’d expect to see him somewhere up the left side if called upon.

Attack

As with the majority of the Russian squad I’m not convinced how much individual talent there is for Cherchesov to call on up-front. Many of you will be familiar with centre forward Artem Dzyuba who currently plays for Zenit and has led the line for Russia for some time now. He was particularly important in their 2018 World Cup run scoring three times and assisting twice. He’s now aged 32 and it could be argued that he is now past his best but his international record of 29 goals in 50 games does speak for itself and it’s likely that if Russia are to make any significant progress this summer he will be at the heart of it.

Judging by past line-ups it looks a good shout that Russia will line-up in a 4-3-3 or perhaps a slightly altered version of that. Assuming that Dzyuba starts through the middle the likes of Atalanta’s Aleksei Miranchuk and Monaco’s Golovin would be two of the likely candidates to support him from wide. There is enough talent in there to suggest they can pose a threat going forward and they do have players like Denis Cheryshev to bring in if needed and he proved he could cope with the demands of tournament football by scoring five times at the World Cup.

Russia predicted line-up vs. Belgium: Shunin; Fernandes, Semenov, Dzhikiya, Kudryashov; Ozdoev, Kuzyaev; Zobnin, Golovin, Miranchuk; Dzyuba. (4-2-3-1)

Russia Euro 2020 Betting Tips & Predictions

Russia will have the luxury of playing two of their first three games in St Petersburg which should mean they are as fresh as possible to get their campaign started. On the flipside of that positive outlook is the fact that their first match will see them up against the world’s No.1 side Belgium. Not only are Belgium obviously a tough opponent but they comprehensively beat Russia on both occasions in qualifying (3-1, 4-1). How much of an impact those results have is yet to be seen but you would think that will be brought up once or twice beforehand by journalists and in Roberto Martinez’s team-talks.

They will also face Finland in St. Petersburg before heading to Copenhagen to round out the group stages against Denmark in what could be an important game in terms of progression depending on previous results. I think Russia should have enough experience to see themselves through to the round of 16, most likely qualifying through one of the third place spots. I find it hard to see them doing much more damage this summer though and should they go through in third place they could well end up against the likes of France, Portugal, Germany or Spain. Although they beat Spain on penalties in the World Cup I think the quarter-finals are one step too far this time and you can get 2.1 for their campaign to end at that stage.

I’ve already highlighted the importance of target man Artem Dzyuba and with that in mind I think he looks a great selection for the team’s top goal scorer. He is odds-on to fulfil that expectation at a price of 1.91 but if you’re looking for a realistic betting angle on Russia then I think that is a solid choice.

Predicted stage of elimination: Round of 16

How to watch Finland v Russia in Euro 2020

📅   When / Wednesday, 13 June 2021, 14:00 BST
🏟   Where / Gazprom Arena (Saint Petersburg)
📺   TV / BBC One, ZDF
📱   Online streaming / bet365