Russia beats Turkey 2-0 in UEFA Nations League second-leg match

Russia’s national football team has defeated Turkey 2-0 in the UEFA Nations League second-leg match.

The game was played on Sunday at Sochi’s Fisht stadium in front of a crowd of 38,288.

The opening goal was scored by Roman Neustadter, 30, in the 20th minute. It was his first goal for the Russian national team after he had been granted Russian citizenship before the 2016 UEFA Euro 2016. He has played ten games for the Russian team.

The other goal was scored by midfielder Denis Cheryshev in the 78th minute.

The Nations League is a new biennial football tournament for men’s national teams of all the 55-member states of the European governing football body, UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations). The tournament is aimed at replacing international friendly football fixtures, which sports experts often deemed to be useless.

Its format was adopted at the UEFA Congress in Astana on March 27, 2014. The tournament’s participants have been divided into four divisions or Leagues, namely from League A, which enlists the strongest teams, to League D. Each League has been divided into groups and the Russian national team was placed into Group 2 of the League B. There are currently 12 teams in League A, 12 teams in League B, 15 teams in League C, and 16 teams in League D. Four nations, finishing in the top of each League, will also qualify for the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup.

The inaugural UEFA Nations League tournament kicked off in early September.

The Russian team shares its group with the national squads of Turkey and Sweden. All teams in the group will have to play two matches against each other (away and at home) and the best team in the group will be eventually promoted to League A, while the 3rd place team will be demoted to League C.

Russia will take on Sweden in the final group stage match in Stockholm on November 20. Turkey will play against Sweden at home on November 17.