Russia’s form since World Cup surprises everyone

Courier Sport takes a look at the challenge Russia pose tonight.

Form – Russia have largely continued where they left off after surprising everyone, including their own supporters, by reaching the last eight of their home World Cup last year. They lost one of their four Nations League fixtures, in Stockholm, as Sweden pipped them to promotion to League A. After losing 3-1 to Belgium in their opening Euro 2020 qualifier, they have won all five matches, scoring 17 goals. Russia will qualify with three games to spare if they beat Scotland and Cyprus and Kazakhstan draw with each other.

Manager – No-nonsense head coach Stanislav Cherchesov dragged his unfancied team to the World Cup quarter-finals after demanding high standards in every training session and every game, telling them there was no such thing as a friendly. So the former Spartak, Dynamo and Legia Warsaw manager gave short shrift to any suggestion that Russia were looking sure to qualify and only complacency could harm them against Scotland.

Stadium – Scotland will play at the venue of France’s World Cup final win over Croatia when they take on Russia at the Luzhniki Stadium. Russia have taken games around the country since the World Cup and they are back in Moscow for the first time since knocking Spain out on penalties at the Luzhniki. The 81,000-capacity arena had an artificial surface when Celtic played there twice earlier in the century but it is now a predominately grass, hybrid surface.

Star Man – Huge striker Artem Dzyuba proved a major handful for the Scotland defence at Hampden last month. The Zenit St Petersburg forward’s physical presence and hold-up play allowed Russia to pen Scotland back after John McGinn’s opener. Monaco’s Aleksandr Golovin and veteran Yuri Zhirkov also caused problems at Hampden.