Russia successfully bounced back after the rough opener versus Belgium. They nipped Finland in St. Petersburg, remaining in the running to advance to the next stage. A gem by Aleksey Miranchuk proved enough to decide a hard-fought contest.
They survived a scare in the first minutes as Johan Pohjanpalo hit the net almost immediately with a great header. However, he was slightly offside, and the VAR review stopped the Finnish celebration. Russia took over after the scare, creating few good chances.
Magomed Ozdoev skied the ball from a good position on a great feed by Miranchuk at the 10th minute. Shortly thereafter, Artem Dzyuba rattled the post from point-blank range, but he was past the last defender as well.
The game was highly physical and featured some major collisions. Mario Fernandes subbed off after 24 minutes due to an apparent back injury. Vyacheslav Karaev and Jere Uronen were instead able to continue despite a major clash in the box. The Finnish defender denied a tap-in with a last-ditch effort, but he ended up hitting the post and inadvertently kicked the opponent in the head.
Russia capitalized on their good momentum in the stoppage time of the first half. Dzyuba and Miranchuk combined 20 meters away from the goal, and the Atalanta forward masterfully flicked it over the goalkeeper with a lefty curled shot.
The home team was able to manage the lead convincingly in the second half. They conceded limited opportunities to Finland, although they were wasteful and could not seal the deal. The two sides are now tied in the Group B heading into the final matches versus Denmark and Belgium.