Russia suffered a surprise 2-0 friendly defeat at home to Belgium on Wednesday evening, Romelu Lukaku scoring both goals for the guests.
Belgium opened the scoring in the 2nd minute, when Russian keeper Igor Akinfeev stumbled over a backpass, Lukaku shooting home into an empty net.
Roared on by a near-capacity crowd in Voronezh, which was hosting its first ever international, Russia attempted to mount a comeback, with stars Andrey Arshavin and Yury Zhirkov at the thick of things.
Everton’s Diniyar Bilyaletdinov went close with a delicate chip around the half hour mark, but Belgium went into the break a goal ahead.
Russia fell further behind in the 73rd minute, Lukaku keeping his goal to shoot past Akinfeev after a long ball.
Zenit St. Petersburg striker Alexander Bukharov spurned a great chance to pull one back for the hosts as the clock ticked down, but he shot high and wide, the miss summing up a disappointing evening for Russia.
