Russia will be one of the oldest and slowest teams at the Euros. In defence, they are heavily relying on Ignashevich – Vasili Berezutski (or his twin brother Aleksei) pair of central backs from CSKA Moscow, who are 36 and 33 respectively. Igor Akinfeev has conceded goals in 37 consecutive Champions League games, which is an all-time record and also a local meme. Ignashevich and Berezutski should be considered as the main culprits of this. They are astoundingly slow, and this weakness is even more transparent against faster opponents.
Their key central midfielders are not young, either. Denisov and Shirokov are 31 and 34 and are both far from their best condition now.
With France, things are exactly the opposite. Their squad is young with great agility, stamina and sprint speed. To me, this makes France one of the most inconvenient opponents for the aging Russian team.
That’s why I’m picking a confident win of Les Bleus with -1 European handicap.