Denis Cheryshev had already scored one excellent goal after coming on for Russia's injured star, Alan Dzagoev in the first half of the 2018 World Cup opener against Saudi Arabia. However, he topped that with a sublime second in the closing minutes of the match at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
Bursting in from the left, Cheryshev let loose a screamer from just inside the area, the ball flying off the outside of his left boot and into the back of the net to put the hosts four up. It was a goal good enough to grace the Final, never mind a rather tedious opener against an overwhelmed Saudi side.
Before the opening match of the World Cup, the 27-year-old left-winger was best known as the man who got Real Madrid booted out of the Copa del Rey two years ago. In what was one of only a handful of appearances he made for the Spanish glamour club, Cheryshev scored in a 3-1 win over Cadiz in the Cup, only for Madrid to be disqualified when it transpired he was under suspension, having collected three bookings in that competition the year before.
Cheryshev moved to Spain as a six-year-old to maximize his football talent, but too many years spent in Real Madrid's B side, or on loan elsewhere, has kept his career on a backburner. Now at Villareal, he has just 12 full international caps.
Expect his star to rise dramatically however, on the back of his two-goal star turn in Russia's 5-0 rout of the hapless Saudis.