Belgium vs. Russia 6/12/21 - Euro Cup Picks & Predictions

Belgium opens its Euro 2020 campaign on Saturday at Gazprom Arena in St Petersburg against Russia. Belgium is ranked number one in the world and will look to start off strong against Russia. Eden Hazard will lead Belgium's attack, while Kevin de Bruyne is expected to be rested after recovering from a recent injury. Romulo Lukaku will be upfront with Dries Mertens creating a dangerous goal scoring attack for Belgium.

Belgium qualified for the Euro 2020 by taking all 30 points out of a possible 30. However, Belgium is coming off a 1-1 draw against Greece on a late goal by Lukaku. However, Belgium is unbeaten in each of its last nine matches across all competitions and has one of the deepest squads in the tournament. During Euro 2020 qualifying Belgium defeated Russia 3-1 and 4-1 and has won each of the seven matches between the two.

Russia's only two losses during qualifying for Euro 2020 were to Belgium. Russia has not been out of the group stage since 2008 and will have a difficult time getting through in a tough group led by Belgium and Denmark. Last weekend Russia defeated Bulgaria on a late goal from the spot by Aleksandr Sobolev. 

Russia arrives here in good health and should not begin the tournament with any top players out injured. Russia lacks a real accomplished goal scorer and a lot of the good work that Artem Dzyuba accomplishes to bring other players into the fold often fizzles out without a top scorer. Aleksandr Golovin will be one of the biggest threats for Russia.