How will Russia line up at UEFA Euro 2020?

Although Russia has a lot of UEFA Euro history both as the Soviet Union and Russia, let’s start from the previous Euro. In UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying, Russia was placed in Group G alongside Sweden, Austria, Montenegro, Moldova, and Liechtenstein.

With a 4–0 triumph over Liechtenstein, Russia got off to a good start in their campaign. Following that, Russia had a streak of poor performances, including two 1–1 draw against Sweden and Moldova, as well as two 1–0 losses against Austria. Due to crowd rioting,

was granted a 3–0 victory over Montenegro.

Russia appeared to be in danger of placing third in their qualifying group before winning their final four matches against Sweden, Liechtenstein, Moldova, and Montenegro to finish second, and qualify for UEFA Euro 2016.

The Russian team was placed in a group with Belgium as its most tough opponent throughout qualification. Kazakhstan, San Marino,

, and Scotland were the only surviving opponents outside of Belgium.

With the exception of a 1–3 home loss to Belgium, Russia won all of its group opponents. After two 7–0 victories in 1995 and 2015, the Russian team trounced San Marino 9–0. Along with the victory over San Marino, Russia also overcame Scotland, Cyprus, and Kazakhstan twice to qualify for the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament.

Despite getting blasted 1–4 at home by no. 1 ranked Belgium, Russia maintained their second spot in the group.

How would Russia perform in the knockout stage? Well, that solely depends on the manager's 11-players selection. We are here to predict who will make it into the starting eleven according to the team’s recent lineup and players' performance. Let’s get to the

Russia Euro 2020

starting squad prediction.

How will Russia line up at UEFA Euro 2020?

Russia has used the 3-4-2-1 formation in the previous games, so it's right to assume that the manager is going to keep the formation. In today's soccer, this formation is rarely employed. It's a 3-4-3 variant that's just as offensively inclined.

Russia's Euro 2020 formation would contain three defenders, four midfielders, two forwards, and one striker.

Wingers will guard your team's sidelines and assist your strikers/forwards on offense in this system. However, because the formation only has three defenders, it is susceptible in defense. Another disadvantage of this formation is that midfielders must play a lot of defenses. However, we are not here to criticize the formation.

Finding the right player who would suit the position and is capable of communicating with his teammates can be quite tricky. Here are the names of the players who the manager thought would serve their purpose well in the right position for Russia Euro 2020:

• Defenders:

   Igor Diveev, Georgi Dzhikiya, Yuri Zhirkov, Andrei Semenov, Vyacheslav Karavaev, Fedor Kudryashov, Mario Fernandes

• Forwards:

   Anton Zabolotny, Artem Dzyuba, Aleksandr Sobolev

Goalkeepers:

Anton Shunin,

Yuri Dyupin, Matvei Safonov

Midfielders:

Dmitri Barinov, Daniil Fomin, Andrei Mostovoy, Rifat Zhemaletdinov,

, Denis Makarov, Aleksandr Golovin, Roman Zobnin, Alexei Ionov, Daler Kuzyayev, Magomed Ozdoev, Aleksei Miranchuk, Denis Cheryshev

Which one of these would be in the starting eleven of the

Russia Euro 2020 squad

? Let’s see fixtures of Russia before moving to the next part to see our prediction. (All times are based on central Europe)

Saturday 12 June (21:00): 

Belgium vs Russia

(St Petersburg)

Wednesday 16 June (15:00): 

Finland vs Russia

(St Petersburg)

Monday 21 June (21:00): 

Russia vs Denmark

(Copenhagen)

GK: Anton Shunin

Our first nominee for the most important role of the Russia Euro 2020 squad is

, who has an amazing clean sheet history.

On August 27, 2007, he made his international debut against Poland in a friendly match that concluded 2–2. On November 17, 2010, he was recalled to the national squad after a three-year absence for a friendly match against Belgium.

On May 25, 2012, he was included in the completed UEFA Euro 2012 roster. He was called up to the group for the games against Turkey and the Czech Republic in September 2018, two months after goalie Igor Akinfeev announced his retirement from international football.

On November 19, 2019, he made his competitive debut for his country, keeping a clean sheet in a Euro 2020 qualifier against San Marino. He was named to the preliminary extended 30-man team for UEFA Euro 2020 on May 11, 2021. He was named to the final squad on June 2, 2021.

CB: Georgi Dzhikiya

Georgi Dzhikiya’s performance in the previous games earned him a spot in our Russia Euro 2020 selection.

In a Euro 2020 qualifier against Belgium on November 16, 2019, he scored his first goal for the national team. This athlete was named to the preliminary extended 30-man team for UEFA Euro 2020 on May 11, 2021. Dzhikiya was named to the final squad on June 2, 2021.

CB: Andrei Semenov

likes to lift the ball off the ground and is a huge fan of long balls. His ball distribution and defensive skills made him a perfect fit for our available position in the

Russia squad for Euro 2021

.

Semenov's contract with Akhmat Grozny was extended through the summer of 2022 on May 19, 2019. He was included in the preliminary extended 30-man UEFA Euro 2020 team on May 11, 2021. He was chosen for the final squad on June 2, 2021.

CB: Fedor Kudryashov

has been on the Russian team since 2016 and has a lot of experience regarding world-class tournaments. That experience will become a distinctive factor when the manager is choosing his final lineup. He made it into our

Russia Euro 2020

selection, we hope that he does the same for the actual starting eleven.

Fedor signed a 1.5-year contract with Turkish club Antalyaspor on January 6, 2020. He was named to the preliminary extended 30-man team for UEFA Euro 2020 on May 11, 2021. He was named to the final squad on June 2, 2021.

LWB: Yuri Zhirkov

rose to prominence during Russia's 2012 European Football Championship campaign, displaying tremendous poise and the ability to play both his position and midfield.  On May 25, 2012, Zhirkov was named to Russia's Euro 2012 roster, and he appeared in all three of the Russian team's matches as they were eliminated in the group stage.

This exceptional player was not selected for Russia's Euro 2016 roster, but he was called up to the national team for Euro 2020 qualifiers against Belgium and Kazakhstan on March 16, 2019. He made his 100th appearance for Russia in the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League on November 18, 2020.

He was named to the preliminary extended 30-man team for UEFA Euro 2020 on May 11, 2021. He was named to the final squad on June 2, 2021.

Due to his old age, it may be a bit controversial to select him as a member of the 11-man squad for

Russia Euro 2020

, but he easily outperforms many young players.

RWB: Mario Fernandes

Finishing being his only weakness,

has everything a manager would want from a right-wing-back. He has a very strong one on ones and likes to pass the ball whenever he gets the chance. This player has a very high potential to be in the final 11 player squad of Russia Euro 2020.

Fernandes was called up to the Brazil squad for the Superclásico de las Américas in 2011, but he declined. On October 14, 2014, Fernandes made his debut for Brazil in a 4–0 friendly victory over Japan.

On March 23, 2017, it was confirmed that he would make his Russia debut against Ivory Coast in a friendly on March 24. He was absent from that game. On October 7, 2017, he made his Russia debut in a friendly match against South Korea.

He was named to the preliminary extended 30-man team for UEFA Euro 2020 on May 11, 2021. He was named to the final squad on June 2, 2021.

CM: Aleksandr Golovin

is our next nominee for Russia Euro 2020 squad.

On the 6th of January 2021, with the score at 1–1, Golovin, who had recently returned from an injury, was introduced as a substitute and scored after less than a minute. Two weeks later, as a substitute, he contributed two assists, both from corner kicks, to help his club come back from behind to defeat Marseille.

Golovin earned his first hat-trick for Monaco in a 4–3 away victory over Nîmes on February 7, 2021. He made history by becoming the first Russian player to score a hat-trick in Ligue 1. He was named to the preliminary extended 30-man team for UEFA Euro 2020 on May 11, 2021. He was named to the final squad on June 2, 2021.

He was named to the initial extended 30-man team for UEFA Euro 2020 on May 11, 2021. He was named to the final squad on June 2, 2021.

CM: Magomed Ozdoev

is our last nominee for the midfield positions. Due to his amazing pass accuracy and the huge amount of key passes he made it to our Russia squad for Euro 2021 selection.

Ozdoev was chosen to Russia's tentative roster for the UEFA Euro 2012 on May 11, 2012. He was called up to the national team for the first time. He was not named to the competition's final official squad. He is the first Ingush player to be selected for the Russian national squad. On September 3, 2014, he made his national team debut in a friendly against Azerbaijan.

On November 15, 2016, he scored his first national team goal in a friendly against Romania in Grozny, where he was born, which ended in a 1–0 victory for Russia. He was not selected for the UEFA Euro 2016 or FIFA World Cup 2018 squads.

LW: Denis Cheryshev

According to some websites, Denis Cheryshev lacks passing and finishing abilities, but is quite strong in one-on-one situations, to the point that makes him an unstoppable offensive force and of course eligible for our 11-men Russia squad for Euro 2021 selection.

Cheryshev was eligible to play for both Russia and Spain before making his international debut with the Russians. In a 2011 interview with Marca, he stated that he felt more Spanish than Russian, but in November 2012, he accepted a call-up to the Russian team.

He was, however, left off Fabio Capello's final roster and, as a result, was forced to withdraw from the UEFA Euro 2016 competition owing to injury.

Cheryshev was included in a preliminary 30-man team for Euro 2020, which will take place in May 2021. He was named to the final squad on June 2, 2021.

RW: Aleksei Miranchuk

Although Aleksei Lonov was the one who filled the position in the previous matches, we think that the manager would try someone new for the tournament and will go with

.

This player is a free-kick expert who would become handy for long-shots. His dribbling skills are the best amongst the players of his age and his crosses are super accurate. Aleksei is a perfect fit for our Russia Euro 2020 selection.

Miranchuk signed a €15 million deal with Atalanta in August 2020. Lokomotiv confirmed on August 30, 2020, that the move had been agreed upon and will be executed following the medical examination.

The mentioned footballer made his Atalanta debut as a substitute against Midtjylland in the Champions League on October 21, 2020 and scored his first goal for the club.

On November 8, he made his Serie A debut for the club, scoring the equalizer in a 1–1 tie with Inter Milan. On 14 January 2021, he made his Coppa Italia debut, scoring in a 3–1 round of 16 victories over Cagliari.

He was named to the preliminary extended 30-man team for UEFA Euro 2020 on May 11, 2021. He was named to the final squad on June 2, 2021.

Let’s see who is the last nominee for Russia Euro 2020 lineup and why.

ST: Artem Dzyuba

Artem Dzyuba is our final piece to finish up the 11-men Russia Euro 2020 lineup.

Throughout our prediction and analysis, you might have noticed that there are no players with perfect finishing skills, yet. Artem is the last piece to this puzzle, with accurate shooting skills and finishing traits this is the last nominee for our Russia Euro 2020 selection.

He scored twice in a 6–1 victory over FC Lokomotiv Moscow on May 2, 2021, to give Zenit their third title in a succession. He scored four goals against FC Tambov on the final day of the 2020–21 league season, pushing his total to 20, and passing colleague Sardar Azmoun (who had 19 goals) as the leading goal scorer.

On November 11, 2011, he made his Russian national football team debut in a friendly against Greece. He was picked up to the UEFA Euro 2012 provisional squad.

Dick Advocaat did not include him in the finalized team for the competition. On June 9, 2019, he scored four goals in a 9–0 home demolition of San Marino in a UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying match, giving Russia their largest-ever win and bringing his international tally to 20 goals.

On October 10th, he scored his 23rd international goal, surpassing fellow Russian Roman Pavlyuchenko.

He was named to the preliminary extended 30-man team for UEFA Euro 2020 on May 11, 2021. He was named to the final squad on June 2, 2021.

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