Russia beat Saudi Arabia 5-0 in the first match of the tournament at Moscow's 81,000-seater Luzhniki Stadium earlier in the day.

“We played a good game. At the same time I cannot say that it was an easy win, our opponents also played well, and they created dangerous for us chances. [Head coach] Cherchesov said after the game that we did well. After all [this was] the first World Cup game, we should move forward in the same way,” Zhirkov told journalists.

He added that the team was under a lot of pressure before the first game of the tournament and he hopes Russia will advance to the round of 16.