Dzagoev: We should have beaten Poland

Alan Dzagoev believes that Russia should have triumphed over Poland after the two rivals played out a pulsating 1-1 draw in Warsaw.

The 21-year-old nodded home Andrey Arshavin's free-kick in the first half to give Russia the lead against the run of play. But midway through the second period, Poland's Jakub Blaszczykowski unleashed a stunning strike to grab a deserved point for the co-hosts.

And Dzagoev was disappointed that he and his team-mates could not secure their place in the quarter-finals after wasting several chances.

"We should have won today and fulfilled our aim of getting through to the quarter-finals but it didn't work out like that. Now we have a game with Greece ahead and we need to be ready for that," he told Rossiya TV 2 Channel.

The young midfielder has been a revelation in attack for the Russians, with three goals so far in the tournament and admitted that he was not supposed to be so far up the field for the set-piece.

"There was nothing special in the first half apart from the goal. In principal, I generally shouldn't go into the penalty area but stand on the edge. But I noticed that Arshavin often hits it there and decided to go in."

Russia now face Greece in their final game in Group A, and will book their quarter-final berth with a draw against Fernando Santos' team, who are bottom of the section after losing 2-1 to Czech Republic earlier on Tuesday.