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Russia Team
Russian team celebrate after scoring the equaliser against England Getty

Russia play Slovakia in a Group B encounter at the Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille on Wednesday, 15 June. The Russian team are on precarious ground, with Uefa issuing a suspended disqualification order against the club, which means that they will be debarred from taking further part in Euro 2016 should they fail to tame their fans.

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Where to Watch Live

Kick-off is set for 2pm BST. Live coverage of the game will be on BBC One and BBC One HD.

Overview

Russia will be looking for their first victory of the campaign, buoyed by their morale boosting 1-1 draw against England, where they scored late into injury time to stop the Three Lions from claiming three points. However, all eyes will be on their supporters who have been in the news for major bouts of hooliganism.

Russia captain Vasili Berezutski, who scored the equaliser, will be banking on the likes of Aleksandr Kokorin and Artem Dzyuba to deliver, which should allow them to make easy work of Slovakia, who have been found in sixes and sevens in their 2-1 loss to Wales in their first game. A win here would go a long way in guaranteeing promotion into the round of 16, especially this time around when the top four teams in third will join the rest of the pack in the next round.

Meanwhile, Slovakia know that they have to put in a much better performance than the one they did against Wales, where they were very good in spurts, but were unable to create enough opportunities up front, which allowed the likes of Aaron Ramsey to regularly get behind their defence. Marek Hamsik is the key man in midfield and unlike against Wales, where he dropped too deep to collect the ball, has to move further up front to orchestrate the play in front of the base of the opposition penalty box.

Betting Odds (betfair)

  • Russia to win: 11/8
  • Draw: 11/5
  • Slovakia to win: 12/5

Team News

Russia

Possible XI: Akinfeev, Smolnikov, Berezutski, Ignashevich, Schennikov, Neustadter, Golovin, Kokorin, Shatov, Smolov, Dzyuba.

Slovakia

Possible XI: Kozacik, Pekarik, Skrtel, Durica, Svento, Kucka, Hrosovsky, Mak, Hamsik, Weiss, Duris.

Euro 2016 Russia