Slovakia deepened Russia’s woes with classy first-half goals from Vladimir Weiss and Marek Hamsik in a tense 2-1 victory in Euro 2016 Group B on Wednesday.
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“The Russians were really strong on the ball, had more possession and were very good at counter-attacks, but also leaving maybe some more space in defence”, he said.
But he said the French police were “over zealous and heavy handed”.
And the Russian foreign ministry has summoned the French ambassador to Moscow after it sharply criticised policing at the Euro 2016 tournament.
However, a large number of British fans have already gathered in Lille from Tuesday, despite French authorities imposing a public drinking ban that restricts the volume of alcohol allowed to be sold by supermarkets and shops and outlaws drinking in the streets of the two cities.
Vasili Berezutski’s injury time header against England secured a vital point for the Russians, while Slovakia opened their campaign with a 2-1 defeat against Wales.
He was also indignant about the treatment of Russian fans by French police.
Despite the disappointing result for the Russians, there was no repeat of the scenes that followed Saturday’s draw with England when their fans charged at opposition supporters after the final whistle in Marseille.
Reuters journalists saw at least three Russians detained by police in Lille before the match, apparently after having been identified as suspects in the Marseille trouble.
The build-up to this match in far northern France had been overshadowed by hooliganism fears with Russian Federation having been told they would be thrown out of the competition if there was any repeat of the crowd trouble at the end of their draw with England in Marseille. Among those arrested were Russians, Slovaks and a woman from Ukraine.
Russian authorities blamed France saying the host country was turning a blind eye to the behavior of English fans who taunted the Russians. “We need to close the borders on them because football does not go with force and violence”.
Riot police commander Olivier Dimpre told reporters outside the Flanders station that they are looking for hooligan groups before they get into the town center.
He added: “We will have a strong police presence with more than 1,200 police officers present in Lens and you can add 1,200 more with the private security that will be mobilised that day”.
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“Everything that could be done has been done”, Dimpre said.
