Russian veterans suffer from a bad case of back pain as they face up to England opener
String of injuries have rocked Leonid Slutski’s squad but the word is: 'They are not young...but there is a lot of stability'
RUSSIA claim their creaking and ageing back four can cope with England — but their luck is getting worse.
A string of injuries have rocked Leonid Slutski’s squad ahead of Euro 2016 with five players ruled out.
Three more missed training yesterday at their HQ on the outskirts of Paris.
Their likely centre-backs in Marseilles on Saturday have a combined age of nearly 70.
CSKA Moscow veteran ace Sergei Ignashevich is 36 while Vasili Berezutski turns 34 on June 20.
Midfielder Oleg Ivanov said: “They are not young but they have experience and there is a lot of stability.”
Defensive midfielder Igor Denisov tore a thigh muscle in the final warm-up with Serbia while Alan Dzagoev, Denis Cheryshev, Yuri Zhirkov and Oleg Kuzmin are also ruled out.
Berezutski, along with midfield duo Dmitri Torbinski and Denis Glushakov, failed to train with the group yesterday — although all are expected to play against the Three Lions.
Related articles
Russia were so short of players that Schalke defender Roman Neustadter — whose mother is Russian — received a passport last week on the orders of President Vladimir Putin.
Zenit’s Artur Yusupov was called into the squad just for being on holiday at the team’s Monaco hotel — although he did not have any boots and initally had to borrow someone else’s.
Yet Ivanov, 29, insisted: “We are all in a very good mood. We are just hoping for the best now.
“I’m sad about Denisov. He was one of our main players in that position.”
Russia lost 2-1 to Czech Republic and drew 1-1 with Serbia in their warm-ups.
Ex-CSKA Moscow boss Valery Gazzaev said: “It does not look like these players can play together."
