GLASGOW /United Kingdom/, September 7. /TASS/. Russia’s national football team defeated Scotland 2:1 in the Euro 2020 qualifier at Glasgow’s Hampden Park stadium on Friday night.
John McGinn gave his team a lead with a goal on the 11th minute, but Russia’s Artem Dzyuba equaled the score on the 40th minute. 59 minutes into the game, Stephen O'Donnell of Scotland scored an own goal.
Commenting on the game, Russian head coach Stanislav Cherchesov said the national team "began the game pretty lazily."
"At this level of competition, you need to do your best from the very outset. But I’m glad we grew a spine and eventually won," he said during the post-game news conference.
"Speaking about how accomplished our task is - 15 points are still up for grabs, and we must fight for them. We will celebrate when the tournament is over and we finish it with the result we want," he added.
Team captain Artem Dzyuba, who scored for Russians, said in a Match Premier TV broadcast it was "a key victory."
"Such games are won by those who fight till the end. It was real struggle, the referee permitted almost everything and it’s a pleasure to win in those conditions, this is a key victory," he said. "It was an honest clash, without dirty tricks, and we deserved our victory."
Yuri Zhirkov, a 36-year-old Russian midfielder who forced Stephen O'Donnell to send the ball to his team’s net, told the Match Premier TV he had doubts about whether he should continue playing for the national team after his unsuccessful performance in the game against Belgium.
"I had doubts about whether I should return to the national team since I was the cause of a penalty in the game against Belgium," he said. "But now everything seems to be fine."
"I think that I did well, although it could have been better, and there were chances to score. The outcome of the game could have been decided at an earlier stage, we could have scored more goals and the final was a bit nervous, but we eventually won three points and this is what really matters at the moment. The game was tough," Zhirkov added.
Russian winger Aleksei Ionov told TASS the team achieved its task in the game against Scotland.
"We are pleased with the result and we fulfilled our task of winning in a visiting game. We expected the game to be difficult, and we were under pressure from the very first moment. But we were ready for that. This pressure did not affect me, I even liked it," he said.
"As far as the upcoming game against Kazakhstan is concerned, we are getting ready to win and pay no attention to the tournament’s standings," the footballer added.
After five games, Russia is ranked second in Group I with 12 points. Belgium is the leader with 13 points. Kazakhstan is third (7 points), followed by Scotland (6), Cyprus (4) and San Marino (0). Only the two best teams will advance to the next stage of the tournament.
During the next round, Russia will face Kazakhstan at a stadium in Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, while Scotland will take over Belgium. Both games are due on September 9.
The matches of the 2020 Euro Cup will be held at stadiums in 12 different cities across Europe, namely in London (England), Munich (Germany), Rome (Italy), Baku (Azerbaijan), Saint Petersburg (Russia), Bucharest (Romania), Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Dublin (Ireland), Bilbao (Spain), Budapest (Hungary), Glasgow (Scotland) and Copenhagen (Denmark).
A decision to hold the 2020 Euro Cup, which will be celebrating its 60th anniversary that year, in various European countries instead of in one or two hosting countries was made at the UEFA Executive Committee’s meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on December 6, 2012.
Russia’s second largest city of St. Petersburg was granted the right to host three group stage matches and one of the quarterfinals of the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup. The newly-built football arena in St. Petersburg hosted the opening and final matches of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and also served as one of 12 stadiums across the country hosting matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.