Artem Dzyuba will lead Russia from the front at Euro 2020

 

Striker Artem Dzyuba is expected to lead the line for Russia once again in the upcoming Euro 2020. He will likely be supported by the speed and agility of Denis Cheryshev upfront.

Russian head coach Stanislav Chercheshov finally announced his 26-man squad for the European Championship.

The 32-year-old Artem Dzyuba will lead Russia in the competition and coach Chercheshov has named just two other forwards in the squad – Anton Zabolotny and Alexander Sobolev.

Ace Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev will be sorely missed as he refused to come out of international retirement to play in the Euros. Dynamo goalkeeper Anton Shunin is likely to be Cherchesov’s first-choice in goal.

Russia have been drawn in Group B at the European Championship this year along with the number-one ranked team in the world, Belgium and Denmark and Finland. The Russian coach had to shorten his squad from an initial list of 30 players.

Defenders Roman Yevgenyev and Ilya Samoshnikov, goalkeeper Andrei Lunev and midfielder Arsen Zakharyan are the players who have missed out this year.

Russia squad for Euro 2020:

Goalkeepers: Anton Shunin, Matvei Safonov, Yury Dyupin

Defenders: Georgy Dzhikiya, Igor Diveyev, Mario Fernandes, Yury Zhirkov, Vyacheslav Karavayev, Fydor Kudryashov, Andrei Semyonov

Midfielders: Dmitry Barinov, Rifat Zhemaletdinov, Alexander Golovin, Daniil Fomin, Roman Zobnin, Maxim Mukhin, Alexei Ionov, Daler Kuzyayev, Andrei Mostovoi, Magomed Ozdoyev, Denis Makarov, Alexei Miranchuk, Denis Cheryshev

Forwards: Artem Dzyuba, Anton Zabolotny, Alexander Sobolev

Russia took on Poland in a warm-up match ahead of Euro 2020 on Tuesday. Poland head coach Paulo Sousa omitted several regulars from the squad, including leading goalscorer and in-form striker Robert Lewandowski.

The makeshift Poland side got off to an excellent start when Jakub Swiercrzok scored an early goal in the fourth minute in front of the home crowd. He side-footed the ball past Russia’s Anton Shunin in goal.

The Russians didn’t take long to answer however, as right-back Vyacheslav Karavaev made the most out of an Aleksandr Golovin cross and put the ball past Lukasz Fabianski to draw Russia level at the 20^th minute of the game.

Both sides made several changes in the second half and failed to create enough chances following which the match fizzled out.