Russia lost 1:3 to Belgium in its first match of the UEFA Euro-2020 qualifiers in Brussels.

Axar.az reports citing TASS.

Denis Cheryshev scored for Russia 16 minutes into the game. Youri Tielemans (15’) and Eden Hazard (45’ on penalty, 88’) scored for Belgium.

Russia’s central midfielder Aleksandr Golovin received the red card on the 90th minute. Another midfielder, Daler Kuzyaev, received an injury and was replaced on the 26th minute.

Over 1,200 Russian fans travelled to Brussels to support the national team.

"Friends, thank you for your great support," the Russian national squad said in a Twitter message after the game. "The battle for a ticket to Euro-2020 is still ahead, and we will do our best to secure a place in this tournament. We are getting ready for a game against Kazakhstan. Thank you again."

The Russian Football Union president Alexander Dukov told TASS the team was not discouraged by the defeat.

"Of course, everything is yet to come," he said. "Certainly, the game against Kazakhstan will be an important one. The team is not discouraged, we keep moving forward."

"Once again, sometimes we lose," he continued. "We were confident during the first half, and were not afraid of our opponent."

Head coach Stanislav Cherchesov said coaches decided not to criticize footballers for the defeat.

"We saw an interesting game, the fans liked it. We were successful in some things, but failed in other aspects," he said. "There can be situations in which the team deserves a good portion of criticism but this is not the case. The footballers realize that they had lost, and now we need to fix the situation."

Russia and Belgium are in Group I. Earlier on Thursday, Kazakhstan defeated Scotland 3:0 at home and Cyprus defeated San Marino 5:0.

During the next round, due on March 24, Russia will face Kazakhstan, while Belgium will take on Cyprus.