Team Russia has officially booked a place at next year’s Euro 2012, after destroying Andorra 6-0 in the final qualifying game at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
Goals by Sergey Ignashevich, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Denis Glushakov, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and a first-half brace by Alan Dzagoev entertained a 55,000-strong crowd on Tuesday night in Moscow.
With the win Dick Advocaat’s charges finished with a total of 23 points to top Group B. The Andorran team, for its part, concluded match play in the qualifying cycle without earning a single point.
Ireland, which beat Armenia in the other group game on Tuesday, finished second to earn a berth in the knock-out qualification games later this autumn.
After Tuesday’s games, 12 of 16 Euro 2012 participants were set. Apart from hosts Poland and Ukraine, Denmark, France, England, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia and Spain booked a guaranteed spot in the biggest football tournament on the continent after winning their groups. Sweden joined the list as the best second team.
The other eight runners-up – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland, Montenegro, Portugal and Turkey – will compete for the remaining four tickets to Poland and Ukraine.
The draw of the Euro 2012 final tournament will be held in Kiev on December 2.