21' BLOCK! Pohjanpalo thinks he is one-on-one with Safonov but Diveev produces an excellent, last-ditch sliding tackle to block the forward's right-footed attempt inside the area. Finland get a corner, which they go short with and the chance fades away.
20' Golovin drifts inside and floats a cross towards the far post, where Fernandes is just an inch too short to get to the cross, which ends up going out for a goal-kick.
19' Dzyuba nearly has the chance to capitalise as two Finnish defenders go for the same ball inside their own box. Unfortunately for the Russian captain, he is too slow to react and the Finnish defence recover to clear into the left-hand channel.
18' Safonov has to be quick off his line, rushing out of his area to head away Pohjanpalo's chipped throughball just as Pukki was looking to pounce in behind the Russia defence.
17' Fernandes is the target for a long pass into the right-hand channel and Uronen does well to head away a clearance. After Pohjanpalo's disallowed goal, Cherchesov's men have grown into this game and are dictating proceedings at the moment.
16' Last time out, Pohjanpalo scored his 10th goal for Finland, in what was his 43rd cap for his country – becoming one of only two players in Finland’s Euro 2020 squad to have netted 10+ goals for the national side (also Teemu Pukki, 30). In fact, Pohjanpalo has netted three goals in his last three appearances for Finland.
15' Pohjanpalo tries to work an opening on his right foot inside the area but a crowd of Russian shirts shelter the forward away from danger in front of Safonov's goal. The Finnish forward appears full of confidence, buoyed on by a strong performance against the Danes at the weekend.
14' OFF THE POST! Miranchuk twists and turns and disguises a pass into the feet of Dzyuba, who uses the defender as a screen and aims for the bottom left corner with his right foot. Hradecky can only stand as he watches the forward's effort strike the post before bouncing away from danger. Replays show, however, the chance may not have stood either way as the Russian captain may have been offside.
12' Barinov catches Kamara's ankle as the Finnish midfielder spins away from the midfielder. The referee doesn't award a free-kick, however, he is forced to stop the game as Fernandes sportingly rolls the ball out of play.
10' CHANCE! Kuzyaev overlaps Golovin before sneaking a pass into Miranchuk, who squares across to the right of goal. Ozdoev is completely unmarked at the back post and, with just Hradecky to beat, rushes his right-footed strike to miscue his effort over the crossbar from close range. A great chance goes abegging for Cherchesov's men.
9' Fernandes clips over the top into the chest of Dzyuba, however, Finland's three-man defence combine to dispossess the Russian captain. O'Shaughnessy, Arajuuri and Toivio all did excellently against Denmark and they've got off to a strong start here, too.
8' Miranchuk roams inwards from the left-hand channel before finding Kuzyaev, who goes down after pressure from Raitala but the referee awards a goal-kick. The right wing-back has the edge over his opposite man at the minute at both ends of the pitch.
6' Miranchuk tries to redirect a header back towards Dzyuba from the right of goal, however, Arajuuri is there to intercept in front of Hradecky's goal. Kamara then attempts to break forward but the Russian midfield wins possession back.
5' NO GOAL! Raitala nips in front of Kuzyaev on the right-hand side before delivering an inviting, left-footed cross towards the six-yard area, where Pohjanpalo pounces to head past Safonov from close range. Finland think they have opened the scoring before VAR intervenes an indicates the forward was offside from the right wing-back’s initial cross.
3' Kanerva's men slowly work their way forward to pin their opponents in their own half. O'Shaughnessy wins the initial header but Arajuuri's second headed clearance goes out for a goal-kick, which Safonov plays short.
2' Ozdoev wins the first corner of the game as he drifts towards the byline on the right before deflecting the ball off O'Shaughnessy. Golovin delivers, however, the cross gets cleared at the near post.
1' With the national anthems over and done with, referee Danny Makkelie gets the game underway!
Since the dissolution of the USSR, Russia have won all four of their games against Finland, scoring at least three goals in each of those matches (15 goals for, 1 against).
Cherchesov makes three alterations to the starting line-up that lost against Belgium. In goal, Safonov replaces Shunin, while in front of him Igor Diveev proves his fitness to come in for Semenov. Veteran left-back Yuri Zhirkov also misses out with a calf injury, meaning Miranchuk starts further forward with Kuzyaev dropping to full-back.
Kanerva opts for just the sole change from Finland’s win over Denmark. Captain Sparv drops to the bench and Schuller replaces him in midfield. The match-winners from the last game, Pojhanpalo and Hradecky, start as opposite ends of the pitch as Kanerva’s men look to build on their positive start.
SUBS: Yuri Dyupin, Anton Shunin, Roman Evgeniev, Anton Zabolotny, Maksim Mukhin, Denis Cheryshev, Rifat Zhemaletdinov, Andrey Semenov, Alexander Sobolev, Vyacheslav Karavaev, Daniil Fomin.
RUSSIA (4-3-3): Matvey Safonov; Mario Fernandes, Igor Diveev, Georgi Dzhikiya, Daler Kuzyaev; Magomed Ozdoev, Dimitri Barinov, Roman Zobnin; Aleksey Miranchuk, Artem Dzyuba, Aleksandr Golovin.
SUBS: Pyry Soiri, Lassi Lappalainen, Joni Kauko, Tim Sparv, Onni Valakari, Robert Ivanov, Marcus Forss, Nikolai Alho, Anssi Jaakkola, Fredrik Jensen, Jesse Joronen, Leo Vaisanen.
FINLAND (3-4-1-2): Lukas Hradecky; Daniel O’Shaughnessy, Paulus Arajuuri, Joona Toivio; Jere Uronen, Rasmus Schuller, Glen Kamara, Jukka Ratiala; Robin Lod; Joel Pojhanpalo, Teemu Pukki.
Russia were no match for the world’s number-one ranked team as they fell to a 3-0 loss against Roberto Martinez’s well-drilled and creative Belgium side. The three-goal deficit means they are bottom of Group B and also stretched their winless European Championship run to six games. Reassuringly for Stanislav Cherchesov’s men, however, they have never lost four in a row in this competition and they have also claimed four wins from four encounters with today’s opponents.
Football understandably took a backseat in Finland’s 1-0 win over Denmark on Saturday, with the concern over Christian Eriksen’s health taking priority. While the result was of secondary importance, it did represent success for Markku Kanerva’s men, who had Joel Pohjanpalo’s goal and Lukas Hradecky’s penalty save to thank for their victory. A win against the Danes also ended a six-game winless run and put them in good standing in Group B.
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Euro 2020 Group B clash between Finland and Russia.
