Euro 2008 - Arshavin inspires Russian advance

Eurosport - Thu, 19 Jun 15:40:00 2008

Russia progressed to the Euro 2008 quarter-finals thanks to an impressive 2-0 victory over Sweden at the Tivoli Neu Stadium in Innsbruck.

FOOTBALL 2008 Euro 2008 Russia-Sweden Pawljutschenko Pavlyuchenko - 0

Russia played superb passing football throughout, and took a deserved lead through Roman Pavlyuchenko midway through the first half, with the influential Andrei Arshavin doubling their advantage after five minutes of the second half following a slick counter-attack.

The result sends Guus Hiddink's side into the last eight as Group D runners-up behind Spain, and they will face Group C winners the Netherlands in Basel on Saturday.

Sweden only needed a draw to go through ahead of Russia, but the defeat marks the end of the line for an ageing squad, and former Celtic, Barcelona and Manchester United man Henrik Larsson is unlikely to pull on the yellow shirt of his country again.

Both sides were boosted by the return of key players, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic overcoming a knee problem to start for Sweden and Russian playmaker Arshavin making his first appearance of the tournament after missing the first two group games through suspension.

Russia took to the field knowing they had to win to progress to the last eight, and they started brightly with Arshavin spraying passes around and causing problems inside Swedish territory.

After 15 minutes Pavlyuchenko drilled a low cross into the Sweden box from the right that Diniyar Bilyaletdinov could not make meaningful contact with, before Sweden goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson had to tip an Arshavin cross over the crossbar and Yuri Zhirkov lashed a well-controlled volley wide of the right-hand post from the subsequent corner.

Russia went ahead on 24 minutes thanks to a beautifully constructed goal. Igor Semshov tucked the ball infield to marauding right-back Aleksandr Anyukov from wide on the right, and his low centre was swept home from 12 yards by Pavlyuchenko.

Sweden almost hit back immediately when Larsson saw a looping header bounce off the crossbar, but Russia quickly regained their rhythm, and Pavlyuchenko was inches away from doubling their lead when a right-footed curler struck the right-hand upright, with Konstantin Zyrianov's headed follow-up being clawed away by Isaksson.

The Sweden keeper then had to push away a long-range effort from Zhirkov, before Lars Lagerback's men rallied towards the end of the first period, with Freddie Ljungberg and Mikael Nilsson both testing Igor Akinfeev in the Russian goal.

But Arshavin put the game beyond the Swedes five minutes into the second half when he tucked home Zhirkov's low pass from the left after another breathless counter-attack.

As Sweden pushed forward they began to leave huge spaces at the back, and Zyrianov saw a deflected effort from the edge of the box strike the left-hand post, before Pavlyuchenko, twice, and Arshavin spurned good late chances to add further gloss to a memorable Russian performance.

Tom Williams / Eurosport

Comment 31 - 50 of 50

Sort comments by: Most recent | Most rated

  1. noddy! Why the surname "arshavin" is funny? It is very interesting to me :)
    Thanks all for support!

    From slena13@ymail.com, on Sat 21 Jun 9:08AM

  2. hey ronwoon you old sick S H I T how are you?still trying to compensate small dick with a big car ha?well good luck with that because you will need a space shuttle to compensate that mikrob,hahahahaha a watch out for tsunamies you little midget crispy @#$%

    From maximthecroat, on Thu 19 Jun 6:57PM

  3. All european teams are good, so expect suprises everyday. who ever gave the greeks a chance 4 years ago. However I tip holland, portugal or italy for the cup. Hats off to Russia!!

    From nnanndy, on Thu 19 Jun 1:29PM

  4. Thanks all who supports our football players!!! I am very glad that game of Russian guys has not left indifferent and people from other countries. In fact the main thing for fans - to see beautiful interesting combinational football, and it at our guys turns out. I hope russians will continue to work wonders in the championship.

    From deadangel7777, on Thu 19 Jun 1:23PM

  5. what a performance by russia yesterday!!!! they outplayed sweden and it was a match i liked to watch..... russia showed great and very fast football... !!

    From Chris, on Thu 19 Jun 12:24PM

  6. I've told to everyone... We are not a back yard boys... Now swedes are suckin' chupa-chups ang going home!!! And we will play against dutch... I guess, our guys have at least 2 reasons to revenge:
    1. Two - nothing loss in 1988 final
    2. 4-1 loss last year friendly...
    We made one miracle... Why couldn't we do another one?

    From darthalru, on Thu 19 Jun 12:05PM

  7. well done russians
    you played an amazing football yesterday
    congratulations.you really deserved the win!

    From vanpersierules, on Thu 19 Jun 9:26AM

  8. i thought arshavin had a funny name but what a great player he is, he works so hard aswell, its good how he has chosen to stay in russia to play his football, he ripped sweden apart. Also another with a funny name was that russian left winger how does he not get knackered.

    From jay8my, on Thu 19 Jun 9:24AM

  9. If the Russians had Pogrebnyak in addition, they would be my tournament favourites! Alas he is injured. But no team will have an easy life against them, not even THIS Holland. Against Spain they conceded naive goals, as Hiddink always says. Against Sweden they impressed more than Spain (against Sweden). Against Greece, difficult to say, because Spain had no interest in the match.

    From Giovanni T, on Thu 19 Jun 8:46AM

  10. To Helsen,
    I known the Netherlands better but I still believe in older dutchman(Guss).

    From baoanh_milano, on Thu 19 Jun 7:27AM

  11. and to Baon...milano: beware :P ALl those are being coached by a dutchman! And we have the greatest of them all for ourselves... First you have to look at your own match coming. You seem to think a bit that you stand in the semi's already :D

    From Helsen R, on Thu 19 Jun 7:08AM

  12. Congratulations Russia :D beautiful game! I am looking forward to saturday when you will play 'my' Holland. It will be a great match i think :)

    From Helsen R, on Thu 19 Jun 7:06AM

  13. Dear russian girl,
    Me too.I believe in your team.This year is belong to you.look at Zenit.

    From baoanh_milano, on Thu 19 Jun 7:01AM

  14. das vadaniya... (that the correct spelling....) ABBA

    From gabutsa, on Thu 19 Jun 6:44AM

  15. We will try!!! We believe in our team&coach!

    From Russian girl, on Thu 19 Jun 6:44AM

  16. das vadaniya... (that the correct spelling....) ABBA

    From gabutsa, on Thu 19 Jun 6:43AM

  17. the best russia team i have seen before.
    Viva russia.Please do your best to beat the Netherland.
    I hope and believe in Andrei Arshavin,Zhirkov,Akinfeev and of course in Guss Hiddink.
    Do not miss the chance to make history.
    Russia-Netherland :2-1

    From baoanh_milano, on Thu 19 Jun 6:33AM

  18. the best russia team i have seen before.
    Viva russia.Please do your best to beat the Netherland.
    I hope and believe in Andrei Arshavin,Zhirkov,Akinfeev and of course in Guss Hiddink.
    Do not miss the chance to make history.
    Russia-Netherland :2-1

    From baoanh_milano, on Thu 19 Jun 6:32AM

  19. Hey Hatta alias Hambali, balek Kampong!! Goondo orang miyak!! Begi makan Tikus satay!!

    From ronwoon, on Thu 19 Jun 5:30AM

  20. Semua jaya bagaimana indonesia....

    From hatta, on Thu 19 Jun 4:30AM
Sort comments by: Most recent | Most rated

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account