Zenit's Krestovsky Stadium bore witness to one of Europe's many "Rye Bread Derbies", this time, a showdown with historical precedent, Finland vs Russia. Despite Finland being the ones with momentum on their side, the consensus was that this 90 minutes would follow the dynamics of the Winter War of 1939-1940, where a superior Russia would be on the offensive yet struggle to make inroads against a street-wise but inferior Finland.

After mere minutes Finland disproved pre-match thoughts through a lively Joel Pohjanpalo, who had the ball in the back of the net; however, VAR swiftly acted to end the Finnish celebrations, as this proved unfortunately to be nothing more than a false start. The first half seemed to be heading to a dead end as possession was traded cheaply between midfield.

This was until Alexei Miranchuk, a sub in the game against Belgium, popped up in the dying embers to stick the ball in the back of the net, a finish reminiscent of his own in the 2017 Russian cup final. The dynamic flipped on the other side of the half-time whistle as Finland proved more dangerous. Despite this, Lukas Hradecky proved the busier of the two goalies, doing well to save a right-foot strike from Daler Kuzyaev, which proved to be the best chance of the 2nd half.

Man of the Match: Georgi Dzhikiya