Our prediction for this match:
Russia
Match Time & Date:
21/03/2024
18:00
Prediction: 1-2
Serbia
VTB Arena will be the centre of attention when Russia and Serbia square off against each other in an eagerly-awaited friendly. Russia aim to build on a splendid 8-0 win over Cuba, but they face a difficult task in Thursday’s clash against Serbia, who managed to qualify for the upcoming European Championship finals. A man to keep an eye on in the home team will be Aleksandr Golovin, who provided an assist for Youssouf Fofana in Monaco’s 2-2 draw with Lorient at the weekend.
The Serbs, on the other hand, are still relying on experienced duo Aleksandar Mitrovic – Dusan Tadic and given Dusan Vlahovic’s fine form in the Serie A, away win should be considered. Goalkeeper Mile Svilar doesn’t want to play for the Serbian national team anymore, while all Jan-Karlo Simic, Srdjan Babic, Filip Mladenovic, Nemanja Maksimovic, and Petra Ratkov failed to make the final cut for the upcoming friendlies.
Highlighted Player (Marko Dmitrovic):
A Red Star Belgrade youth prospect, Serbian goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic never got a chance to shine at his boyhood club. The talented shot-stopper was forced to take a longer road to prominence and travelled through Hungary, England and Spain to find his place under the sun. Spells with Ujpest, Charlton Athletic and Alcoron brought nothing but disappointment for the Serbia ‘keeper, who rose to full prominence at Eibar.
Dmitrovic was voted the best player of Eibar for the 2017/18 season after not missing a single league appearance for Los Armeros. Apart from his footballing exploits, Marko Dmitrovic remains remembered for saving Angel Rodriguez Diaz’s life in a game against Getafe.
Dmitrovic was the one to unintentionally knock Angel to the ground after a duel in the box and was also the first one to pull his tongue out when it became apparent that Angel was lying still on the ground. Marko Dmitrovic is Serbia’s second choice goalkeeper who made his debut in 2017. The Eibar custodian was part of Serbia’s World Cup expedition in Russia but did not get a chance in goal with Vladimir Stojkovic being favoured between the sticks.
Highlighted Team (Russia):
While they won the 1960 European Championship, while losing in the final in 1964, 1972 and 1988 as Soviet Union, Russia have enjoyed little success since starting to compete as an independent country in 1992.
Their best result up to date is the third-placed finish at the Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland, while the team failed to get past the group stage at the World Cup finals in three attempts. However, with Russian Premier League getting stronger by the day, the national team have started to improve as well, and they now finally seem capable of matching the world’s top sides.
The new generation includes high-quality footballers such as Alan Dzagoev, Aleksandr Kokorin, Artyom Dzyuba and Oleg Shatov, while the likes of Igor Akinfeev, Sergei Ignashevich, Roman Shirokov and Yuri Zhirkov are nearing the closing stages of their careers. But, with plenty of exciting talent coming through the ranks, future definitely looks bright for the Russia national team.
Monza 
Juventus
