FACT FILE

Russia and Saudi Arabia’s only previous meeting was a friendly in 1993. The Saudis won 4-2 at home.

Since the break up of the USSR, Russia have never reached the knockout stages of the World Cup in three appearances (1994, 2002, 2014).

France were the last hosts to win the trophy, in 1998. The only time a host nation has not reached the second round was in 2010 when South Africa were knocked out in the group stages.

Russia are winless in their last five World Cup games (D2 L3). Their only post-Soviet Union victories were 6-1 v Cameroon in 1994 and 2-0 v Tunisia in 2002.

This is Saudi Arabia’s fifth World Cup, their first since 2006. They finished bottom of their group in their last three appearances. Their best performance came in their opening tournament in 1994, when they were knocked out by Sweden in the last 16.

Saudi Arabia have lost eight and drawn two of their previous 10 games at the World Cup. Their last win in the competition was in the group stages in 1994 when they beat Belgium 1-0.

That was also the only clean sheet in their 13 games at the finals and they have not scored in seven of their last nine matches in the tournament.