MOSCOW, March 21. /TASS/. The Russian national football team cruised to a 4-0 win over their opponents from Serbia in a friendly match in the Russian capital of Moscow on Thursday night.

The host country opened the scoring in the 22nd minute of the match with a penalty kick by Anton Miranchuk.

Less than eight minutes later, Russian midfielder Maxim Osipenko netted a left corner strike against the guests to bring the score to 2-0.

Russia took the 2-0 lead into the half, as both teams retreated to their locker rooms for the break.

After halftime, in the 55th minute, Russia’s Alexey Miranchuk scored another goal bringing the score to 3-0 in favor of the hosts.

Following that goal, both teams made wholesale substitutions but the score remained unchanged until, just minutes shy of the final whistle, Russia’s Ivan Sergeyev netted another goal.

The match between the national squads of Russia and Serbia was played at the over 25,700-seat capacity VTB-Arena and, according to media reports, 23,679 people were in attendance.

The Russian national football team will play a friendly football match against the national squad of Paraguay on March 25, also at VTB Arena.

Russia’s football ban

The International Association Football Federation (FIFA) announced on February 28, 2022 that the Russian national team and all professional clubs representing the country were barred from taking part in FIFA tournaments.

In turn, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) made a similar decision in regard to the Russian national football team’s participation in UEFA tournaments.

Both FIFA and UEFA cited Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine as grounds for their respective bans on Russian teams’ participation in competitions.

Since sanctions were introduced, the Russian national football squad has played a host of friendlies against other countries. In 2023, Russia played friendly matches against Iran (1-1), Iraq (2-0), Qatar (1-1), Cameron (1-0), Kenya (2-2), Cuba (8-0).