Russia enjoy an easy win over conquerors of Mcleish’s men

Valencia’s Denis Cheryshev struck twice as Russia beat Kazakhstan 4-0 to secure the first victory of their Euro 2020 qualification campaign.

Cheryshev opened the scoring in the 19th minute before adding a second just before half-time. Artem Dyzuba made it 3-0 to Russia in the second half as the visitors took full control.

Kazakhstan, who had provided the biggest shock so far in beating Scotland 3-0 last Thursday, suffered further misery, with an own goal from Abzal Beysebekov.

In the other Group I game last night, early goals from Chelsea pair Eden Hazard and Michy Batshuayi gave Belgium a comfortable 2-0 win in Cyprus.

Meanwhile, Nico Schulz scored a last minute winner to kick-start Joachim Low’s Germany revolution with a dramatic 3-2 win over Holland in Amsterdam.

World Cup finalists Croatia suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Hungary in their second match in Group E.

The visitors, who had struggled past Azerbaijan on Thursday, grabbed a 13th minute lead through Ante Rebic.

But Hungary hit back to equalise through Adam Szalai just past the halfhourmarkandmatepatkai scored the winner with 14 minutes remaining.

In Group G, late goals from Robert Lewandowski and Kamil Glik saw Poland to a 2-0 win over Latvia, Eran Zahavi hit a hat-trick in Israel’s 4-2 win over Austria, and Slovenia and Macedonia drew 1-1.