Russia thrash Andorra, through to Euro 2012

Published: 11 Oct 2011 - 21:35:38

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Russia thrash Andorra, through to Euro 2012

Russia comfortably clinched their place at the Euro 2012 finals with a 6-0 win over qualifying group B minnows Andorra here on Tuesday.

"I'm proud of my team as we were the better team today and in the entire qualifying campaign," Russia's manager Dick Advocaat said.

"It was a really impressive performance tonight. Now we need to prepare the best possible way for the finals."

Alan Dzagoev netted a double, while Sergei Ignashevich, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Denis Glushakov and substitute Diniyar Bilyaletdinov also scored as Advocaat's men sealed first place in the group with 23 points, two more than runners up the Republic of Ireland, who beat Armenia 2-1.

"We are happy as we fulfilled our promise and thrashed Andorra in the last qualifier," the hero of the match Dzagoev said. "It was great, an unbelievable feeling to play in front of 55,000-crowd of our fans."

"We achieved our main goal so far winning the final stage berth automatically. I believe next year we will perform even better."

Russia's win in Slovakia on Friday meant they needed only a point at home to a side they had been beaten in all five previous meetings, and who had lost every single qualifier so far.

The hosts' intent was clear from the start, and CSKA Moscow's Dzagoev put them ahead in the fifth minute when he fired home a rebound from just inside the area after Andorran 'keeper Jose Gomes had failed to fully clear an Arshavin corner.

Vasili Berezutski then saw an effort disallowed for handball before Ignashevich made it 2-0 with a header from six yards following an Arshavin free-kick.

Captain Arshavin was having a field-day, and he set up Topttenham striker Pavlyuchenko to make it 3-0 from close range just before the half-hour mark.

There was still time for Dzagoev to make it 4-0 before the interval with his second of the evening, and Glushakov, of Lokomotiv Moscow, headed in a Roman Shishkin cross to make it five in the second-half with his first international goal.

Bilyaletdinov then came off the bench to complete the scoring in the 78th minute with a powerful long-range strike as the Euro 2008 semi-finalists sealed their spot at next summer's tournament in Poland and Ukraine.

Skipper Arshavin also expressed his satisfaction with his team's performance on Tuesday.

"Everything went well and our way tonight," Arshavin said. "We scored an early opener and it was the decisive moment for today's win."

"In the later stages we experienced few problems and tried to score as many goals as possible. No doubt it was Russia's evening."