Finland are full of confidence heading into their second Euro 2020 fixture against Russia after Saturday's 1-0 win against Denmark.
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Finland will face Russia in their second Group B fixture of UEFA Euro 2020 on Wednesday at Saint Petersburg stadium. Russia are coming to the match on the back of a 3-0 loss to Belgium. Whereas Finland defeated Denmark 1-0 in their previous match. It was Finland’s first ever appearance at a major tournament finals. However, the match against Denmark will be remebered only the unfortunate incident of Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen. The Inter Milan player required medical assistance after suffering a cardiac arrest. He is out of the woods now but required medical care almost instanly.
Marku Kanrva’s side went into the match against the Danes as underdogs. But secured their first win in the Euro’s courtesy of Joel Pohjanpalo’s header in the 60th minute. Meanwhile the goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky, played his part in denying Pierre-Emile Hojberg from the penalty spot.
After the narrow victory, Finland are second in the group behind Belgium. Russia lost to Belgium in their opening match of the competition. Romelu Lukaku started the scoring for the Red Devils before right-back Thomas Meunier extended the lead. Late in the game, Meunier provided the assist for Lukau to get his second of the night and complete the drubbing.
However, the defeat to the world’s number-one ranked nation means that Russia are now winless in their last six European Championship games and are placed at the bottom of the group. Stanislav Cherchesov’s side will be looking to forget Saturday’s defeat as soon as possible and regroup themselves to face tournament debutants Finland.
Belgium are the favourites to top the group, therefore this game might be crucial in deciding who joins the Red Devils in the knock-out stage.
Kanerava is likely to stick with the similar playing XI that earned three points against Denmark. Leo Vaisanen is likely to play at right-back after Jukka Raitala came off late against Denmark with a calf problem.
Teemu Pukki, who has netted 30 times for Finland will be the main man upfront alongside last match’s hero Pohjanpalo.
Russia on the other hand, have few injury concerns after the game against Belgium. Veteran defender Yuri Zhirkov limped off before the interval against Belgium with a calf injury and will miss today’s match. Daler Kuzyaev is nursing a concussion after clashing heads with Castagne. However, he is training well after the incident.
Finland possible starting lineup: Hradecky, Vaisanen, Arajuuri, O’Shaughnessy, Toivio, Uronen; Kamara, Sparv, Lod, Pohjanpalo, Pukki
Russia possible starting lineup: Shunin, Dzhikiya, Semenov, Barinov, Fernandes, Zobnin, Ozdoev, Karavaev, Miranchuk, Golovin, Dzyuba
