Russia remain on winning streak

Russia remain on winning streak





Russia 2-1 Serbia
Pavel Pogrebnyak and Roman Pavlyuchenko were on target as Guus Hiddink's side won their second pre-UEFA EURO 2008™ friendly in Burghausen.
Similar lineup
Hiddink may have found his starting line-up for their first match of the summer tournament in Group D against Spain on 10 June as he fielded almost the same eleven that convincingly disposed of Kazakhstan 6-0 on Friday. The only change was striker Dmitri Sychev's deployment on the right wing in place of the injured Vladimir Bystrov.

Intense training
Both teams struggled in the opening stages with the Russian players appearing to be suffering from the effects of recent physical exertions on the training pitch. But they took the lead on 12 minutes when a free-kick from 25 metres out was dispatched with a fierce shot off the far post by Pogrebnyak. However, the goalscorer lasted only a couple of minutes more as he collected an injury and was replaced by FC Spartak Moskva's Pavlyuchenko.

Pantelic leveller
Serbia could have levelled within six minutes when Marko Pantelic headed over from a free-kick while Yuri Zhirkov also went close from a set-piece. Serbia did make it 1-1 on 40 minutes, though, when Pantelic caught out Konstantin Zyrianov and Roman Shirokov before shooting past Igor Akinfeev. Nemanja Vidić was then forced to clear off the line to ensure parity at the break.

Winning goal
Russia wasted no time in regaining the lead after the interval, though, as two minutes in, Sychev collected a long diagonal ball and crossed low for Pavlyuchenko to sweep in. Hiddink made a number of changes, with Dmitri Torbinskiy, Bystrov and Renat Yanbaev introduced, but Serbia enjoyed more possession thereafter only to fail in creating any significant opportunities. Russia will play their final pre-tournament friendly against Lithuania in Germany on 4 June.

Russia: Akinfeev, Anyukov (V. Berezutski 46), Kolodin, Shirokov, Zhirkov (Yanbaev 80), Semak, Zyrianov, Semshov (Saenko 83), Bilyaletdinov (Torbinskiy 71), Sychev (Bystrov 67), Pogrebnyak (Pavlyuchenko 16).

Serbia: Dišljenković, Ninkov (Rukovina 71), Rajković, Vidić (Ivanović 46), Kolarov, N. Kovačević , Kačar (Kuzmanović 59), Milovanović (Ilić 76), Tošić, Despotovic (Jankovic 46), Pantelic (Žigić 46).