Russia captain Andrey Arshavin has warned his side there will be added pressure on his team to progress from the Euro 2012 group stage.
The Euro 2008 semi-finalists were drawn alongside co-hosts Poland, Greece and the Czech Republic in Friday night s draw, and the Arsenal man acknowledges that his nation will be expected to qualify for the latter stages.
All will expect the Russian team to get out of the group, which will undoubtedly put pressure on the team, the 30-year-old said, according to Sport-express.ru.
Arshavin was also wary of Russia s possible opponents in the knockout phase. If Dick Advocaat s team qualify from the group, they could potentially come up against the likes of Portugal, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Another minus is that those who qualify from the group will go on to face a team from Group B, which, no doubt will be called the Group of Death , Arshavin said.
I ll tell you that even the Danes aren t whipping boys they may get into the latter stages.
Zenit St Petersburg midfielder Roman Shirokov was more optimistic about Russia s chances.
Compared to a team like Portugal, I m very happy with the draw, he said.
Russia will start their Euro 2012 campaign against the Czech Republic.
