Russia surge after Slutski appointment

A coaching change in August proved the spur for Russia to turn around their UEFA EURO 2016 campaign, from a position where a play-off place was not even certain into an automatic berth for France following Monday's 2-1 home victory over Montenegro.

Their 1-0 home loss to Austria in June left Russia four points adrift of second-placed Sweden in Group G, with Montenegro not too far behind. Coach Fabio Capello left the following month and in August, CSKA Moskva boss Leonid Slutski was appointed for the rest of qualifying while retaining his club role.

Russia were transformed. They beat Sweden 1-0 on 5 September and three days later moved into second spot with a 7-0 success in Liechtenstein as their Scandinavian rivals crashed 4-1 to Austria. Further wins against Moldova and Montenegro then took Russia to the finals and they can have some hopes, particularly if Artem Dzyuba keeps up his recent form for both club Zenit and country, with eight goals in the group.

Reaction
Leonid Slutski, coach
The boys played well, doing a good job out there. And now we will go to France! We were favourites before [playing Montenegro] but it is never easy to deal with the pressure.

I'm happy with the quality of our performance and delighted that we have achieved a goal that looked difficult at the beginning of the journey. I thank all the fans, both at the stadium and those watching on television.

Key stats
Best result: winners 1960 (as Soviet Union)
Coach: Leonid Slutski
Leading scorers: all-time – Aleksandr Kerzhakov (30); current – Aleksandr Kerzhakov (30)
Most appearances: all-time – Sergei Ignashevich (111); current – Sergei Ignashevich (111)

Record EURO appearances
Overall: Sergei Ignashevich (46)
Final tournament: Aleksandr Anyukov (9)

Record EURO goals
Overall: Roman Pavlyuchenko (10)
Final tournament: Roman Pavlyuchenko (4)