Austria v Russia background

Austria are taking on Russia for the first time since the end of the Soviet Union in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying Group G, having failed to score in two previous friendly encounters.

Match background
• Austria and Russia have met twice since the fall of the Soviet Union, with Austria's record in those games W0 D1 L1. Both games were played in Austria and the home side failed to score in either.

• Their first encounter in Klagenfurt on 17 August 1994 ended in a 3-0 win for Russia, Vladimir Beschastnykh (43), Yuri Nikiforov (53) and Igor Simutenkov (83) all on target. Beschastnykh's and Nikiforov's goals were their first for their country.

• The sides drew 0-0 in Graz on 25 May 2004, though injuries to key players forced Russia coach Georgi Yartsev to field an experimental side. Aleksei Bugaev and Aleksandr Anyukov made their debuts.

• Austria and the Soviet Union met six times, the Austrians' record W1 D1 L4 (W1 D1 L0 at home, W0 D0 L3 in the Soviet Union). Notable meetings include a 2-0 win for the USSR at the 1958 World Cup finals in Sweden, Valentin Ivanov (15) and Anatoli Ilyin (62) the scorers in Boras.

• The nations also met in the qualifying group stage for the 1968 UEFA European Championship. Eduard Streltsov (80) scored the vital goal in a 4-3 win for the USSR in Moscow on 11 June 1967, but Leopold Grausam's goal settled the return fixture, a 1-0 win for Austria on 5 November 1967.

• Austria and Russia have met in four UEFA age-group competition matches, with Austria's record W3 D1 L0.

• There is nothing to separate the nations' clubs in their UEFA competition encounters, the 38 matches between the countries ending with 13 wins apiece and 12 draws. Most recently, FC Zenit drew 0-0 at home and lost 4-1 away against FK Austria Wien in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League group stage.