Euro 2020: Finland vs Russia; Stats Preview

Bengaluru, June 16: After starting their Euro 2020 campaign with a 1-0 win against Denmark, Finland will take on Russia in their second their Group B encounter at the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday (June 16).

The match kicks off at 6.30 PM IST and will be shown live on Sony TEN 2 channel with live streaming available on SonyLIV and Jio TV.

A win will help Finland edge close towards a round-of-16 spot, while Russia who lost their opening match to Belgium will find themselves in a spot of bother if they suffer another defeat.

With OPTA inputs, myKhel.com looks at some of the interesting sub plots of the match.

● Since the dissolution of the USSR, Russia have won all four of their games against Finland, scoring at least three goals in each of those matches (15 goals for, 1 against).

● Finland have only scored one goal in their four previous games against Russia, it was back in November 1995 - that goal, scored by Kim Suominen, was netted past goalkeeper Stanislav Cherchesov, now Russia's current head-coach.

● Finland's 6-0 defeat to Russia back in August 1995 remains the last time they were beaten by that margin in an international match - current manager Markku Kanerva made his 58th and penultimate appearance for the national side that day.

● Following their 1-0 win against Denmark, Finland will be looking to become the first team to win their first two matches at the European Championships since Croatia in 1996.

● Russia are without a win in their last six matches at the European Championships (D2 L4), losing each of their last three in a row - they've never lost four consecutive matches in the competition (incl. games as USSR/CIS).

● Joel Pohjanpalo scored Finland's first ever goal at the European Championships, with what was their first shot in the competition. Indeed, Finland became the first side to win a match at the European Championships (since 1980), while only attempting just a single shot.

● Since 1980, Finland became just the fourth team win a match at the European Championships while having 21+ shots fewer than their opponents, after Turkey in 2000 (v Belgium), Denmark in 2012 (v Netherlands) and Greece in 2012 (v Russia).

● Stanislav Cherchesov is the second Russia manager to lose as many as two major tournament games by a 3+ goal deficit (Euros + World Cup), after Guus Hiddink during Euro 2008 (vs Spain on two occasions).

● Last time out, Joel Pohjanpalo scored his 10th goal for Finland, in what was his 43rd cap for his country - becoming one of only two players in Finland's Euro 2020 squad to have netted 10+ goals for the national side (also Teemu Pukki, 30). In fact, Pohjanpalo has netted three goals in his last three appearances for Finland.

● Yuri Zhirkhov (37y 296d) became the oldest player ever to make an appearance for Russia at the European Championships (inc. USSR/CIS), overtaking Sergei Ignashevich from 2016 (36y 342d). However, his appearance against Belgium lasted only 43 minutes owing to injury, while only Ignashevich (10) has made more European Championship appearances for Russia than Zhirkhov (9).