Russia will be able to breathe a sigh of relief after Belgium national team boss Roberto Martinez has confirmed that striker Romelu Lukaku will not be available for the Euro 2020 qualifying match between the two nations. This will be the first qualification match for the Euro 2020 and Lukaku is unavailable due to a foot injury. The Belgian striker was unavailable for Manchester United’s recent match against Wolves, which ended in a defeat in the FA Cup. He does not appear to have recovered in time for this crucial qualifier. However, Martinez has hinted that Lukaku may be available for the second qualifier, which will be against Cyprus, in a few days.

After spending most of the campaign struggling to overcome a goal drought, Lukaku has been in fine form over the last month. He has been able to reclaim his spot at the top of the Manchester United scoring charts this season following a string of goals. So far, he has been able to come up with 12 league goals and this has been largely helped by a brace in the last three matches. Martinez admitted that Lukaku was in a poor run of form, but his current form means that Russia will be quite happy with the news. After back-to-back defeats in which Russia failed to score a goal, Cherchesov will be keen to see his team get a positive start.

Just after the game against Belgium, Russia take on Kazakhstan in the second qualifier.”The relationship with Manchester United is very close. The only thing that matters is Romelu is fully fit. We want him fit but it has to be in the right way. We’ve been happy with his progress but at the minute he is still unavailable. He is a player that has not been discovered overnight,” said Martinez.