After Denmark’s shock Euro ’92 victory, we should be wary of last-minute arrivals at European Championships.
The Scandinavians were famously fresh off the beach when they turned up in Sweden as late replacements for the disqualified Yugoslavia, yet ended up stunning World Cup holders Germany to lift the title.
With that precedent having been set, England and Wales (and Slovakia) fans would be wise not to write off Russia midfielder Artur Yusupov.
The Zenit player, who has just two caps to his name, was on holiday in Monte Carlo when he was given the call to replace the injured Igor Denisov, and was so genuinely unprepared that he didn’t even have his football boots with him.
“I didn’t even have my football boots with me and none of my kit. I had to borrow from Roman Neustädter,” the 26-year-old told UEFA.com.
“After being on holiday for 14 days, of course it is difficult to get down to work,” said Yusupov, who was conveniently staying at the same hotel as his international team-mates.
“I don’t really know myself what state I will be in.”
Yusupov is not known for his goalscoring exploits, having failed to find the net in his first season in St Petersburg and scored just twice in his last year with Dinamo Moscow.
But we said the same about Denmark’s John Jensen, and look what happened there
While the deadline for naming final 23-man squads has passed Euro 2016 coaches are permitted to replace injured squad members up until the opening game of the tournament on Friday.
Russia face England on June 11, Slovakia on June 15 and Wales on June 20.
