Russia routed minnow Andorra 6-0 on Tuesday to qualify for next year's European Championship as Group B winner.
Needing just a draw to win the group, Russia dominated as expected at the Luzhniki stadium with Alan Dzagoev putting the hosts ahead in the fifth minute. Teammate Sergei Ignashevich made it 2-0 by scoring off Andrei Arshavin's free kick in the 26th.
Arshavin provided Roman Pavlyuchenko and the Russia striker scored his fourth goal in seven matches on the half hour mark before Dzagoev sent Russia into the break with a 4-0 lead, firing home after Roman Shishkin's knockdown.
Denis Glushakov scored his first goal for Russia in the 69th before Diniyar Bilyaletdinov capped the rout in front of 50,000 spectators by scoring with a low shot from 25 meters (yards) out in the 78th.
''With all respect to Andorra, we had to win this game,'' Russia coach Dick Advocaat said. ''We deserved to take the first place in the group. In all the games and even the one we've lost we were the better side in the pitch.''
Russia finished with 23 points, two points ahead of Ireland which qualified for next month's Euro 2012 playoff after a 2-1 victory over Armenia in Dublin.
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Lineups:
Russia: Vyacheslav Malafeev, Roman Shishkin (Alexander Samedov, 80), Vasiliy Berezutskiy, Sergei Ignashevich, Alexei Berezutskiy, Igor Semshov (Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, 73), Igor Denisov, Denis Glushakov, Andrey Arshavin, Alan Dzagoev, Roman Pavlyuchenko (Pavel Pogrebnyak, 73).
Andorra: Jose Jose Gomes puntched the ball away, Marc Bernaus, Emili Garcia, Ildefons Lima, Marc Pujol (Juli Sanchez, 85), Marcio Vieira, Sergio Moreno, Edu Perre, Sebastian Gomez (Fernando Silva, 70), Marc Vales, Alexandre Martinez.
