Ice-cold Lukaku bags brace against Russia to see Belgium jump to the top of Group B

Belgium cruised to victory in their opening Group B fixture against Russia in Saint-Petersburg. Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring early on, he was joined on the scoresheet by Thomas Meunier, before the Inter Milan talisman sealed the victory late on with his second of the game.

The game opened as a scruffy affair, with neither side comfortably keeping possession.

Russia had a corner with seven minutes played, swung in from the left, but it flew over the crowded Belgium penalty area and resulted in a throw in.

After ten minutes, Romelu Lukaku pounced on a loose ball which fell kindly to his feet, thanks to a miss-kick from Andrey Semenov, before dispatching and burying it into the bottom right hand corner in trademark Lukaku style. The Inter Milan striker celebrated by paying tribute to teammate Christian Eriksen by saying “Chris, I love you” into the pitch-side television camera.

Mario Fernandes was close to equalising from a corner, however it didn’t test the experienced Thibaut Courtois, who dealt with the danger.

Belgium had the opportunity to double their advantage as Lukaku teed up Dendonker, but the Wolves man’s shot from 18 yards flew over Anton Shunin’s goal. The Russian goalkeeper called into action moments later as he reacted quickly to deny Thorgan Hazard’s effort.

After 29 minutes, Toby Alderweireld became the latest Belgian to have a shot on goal, however his swerving drive didn’t phase Shunin as it cleared the crossbar by some margin.

The Belgians doubled their lead minutes after the half hour mark as Shunin parried Hazard’s driven cross which found Thomas Meunier (who’d only been in action for a handful of minutes) and the Borussia Dortmund man converted from eight yards out.

Yannick Carrasco could’ve clinched Belgium’s third goal at the end of the first half as he tip-toed past several Russian defenders, however his dinked finish didn’t come off as the ball once again flew over Shunin’s crossbar.

As the tie’s first period of play drew to a close, it was clear to see how comfortable Belgium were, by creating some great chances and dealing with Russian danger with great professionalism, perhaps a little bit more cutting edge would’ve made the occasion even more comfortable for Roberto Martinez’s side.

25 seconds into the second half, the first chance on goal was taken by Roman Zobnin – but similarly to his opponents in the first half his shot was high, wide and not very handsome.

Over the course of the first third of the half, both sides struggled to create any dangerous chances and the encounter became very stop-start.

With 20 minutes remaining, Eden Hazard was introduced to hopefully add some spark and firepower to reignite the Belgian attack, the Real Madrid man replaced Dries Mertens.

After 83 minutes, Dedryck Boyata almost deflected the ball into his own net but luckily for the Hertha Berlin defender it went out for a corner which the Russians failed to convert from.

Four minutes later, Lukaku netted his second of the night as he kept composed to beat Shunin from 18-yards-out. A neat finish slotted home by the Belgian, one-on-one, after receiving a well-weighted and perfectly timed ball from Meunier.

19-year-old Maksim Mukhin had the chance to snatch a consolation goal in the last minute however his free-kick from 19-yards-out went wide.

What’s Next?

Belgium are next in action as they take on Denmark on Thursday afternoon in Copenhagen, whereas the Russians will hope to pick themselves back up in time for their clash against Finland in Wednesday’s early game.

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