Denis Glushakov was relieved Russia "turned
on the style" against Andorra after scoring his first international
goal in the 6-0 win that earned Dick Advocaat's side top spot in Group
B.
Denis Glushakov was glad Russia were able to "turn on the style"
for their fans, with the FC Lokomotiv Moskva midfielder scoring his first
international goal in the 6-0 win against Andorra that confirmed his side's
place at UEFA EURO 2012 as Group B winners.
Needing only to avoid defeat, Russia dispelled any nerves as Alan Dzagoev
put them ahead on five minutes. The PFC CSKA Moskva man who scored the
crucial winner against Slovakia on Friday made it 4-0 a minute before
the break following further goals from Sergei Ignashevich and Roman Pavlyuchenko.
Glushakov and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov wrapped up the scoring after the break.
"We are all absolutely delighted," said Glushakov, 24 ,who was
making his sixth international appearance. "We played to win and
we really wanted to send the fans home happy today. A lot of fans took
the time out to come and watch our team perform and our coach said it
was time we started to turn on the style for them."
Getting into the right mindset to take on modest Andorra had, Glushakov
conceded, been something of a challenge. "When you play against the
likes of Slovakia, it's not hard to get motivated as you know they are
a quality side," he explained. "However when you are playing
against a team like Andorra, who aren't one of the world's best, it is
much harder."
Goals have not come easy for Dick Advocaat's Russia in Group B; this was
their first victory by a margin of more than two goals in the section,
and Igor Semshov said it was high time his side started to take their
chances. "It was nice to finally start scoring again," said
the 33 year-old midfielder.
"We drew 0-0 against the Republic of Ireland here and lost 1-0 at
home against Slovakia, and in both games we just couldn't find the back
of the net. Thankfully, luck was on our side today."
Qualifying round EURO-2012 - (Group B) - 07/10/2011 - Luzhniki Stadion
- Moscow.
Referee - Eli Hacmon (ISR).
Russia: Vyacheslav Malafeev, Roman Shishkin, Vasili Berezutski, Sergei
Ignashevich, Aleksei Berezutski, Igor Semshov (Diniyar Bilyaletdinov,
72), Igor Denisov, Roman Pavlyuchenko (Pavel Pogrebnyak, 73), Andrey Arshavin
(C), Alan Dzagoev, Denis Glushakov (Aleksandr Samedov, 80).
Coach - Dick Advocaat (NED).
Andorra: Jose Gomes, Marc Bernaus, Garcia Emili Garcia, Lima Ildefons
Lima (C), Marc Pujol (Juli Sanchez, 85), Marcio Vieira, Sergio Moreno,
Edu Peppe (Ivan Lorenzo, 79), Sebastian Gomez (Fernando Silva, 70), Marc
Vales, Alexandre Gutierrez.
Coach - Jesus Alvarez (AND).