Russia vs Wales reaction: Leonid Slutsky 'quits' as head coach following emphatic defeat to Chris Coleman's side
Aaron Ramsey, Neil Taylor and Gareth Bale scored to land a knock-out blow on Russia
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Your support makes all the difference.Russian coach Leonid Slutsky effectively resigned after his team’s crushing 3-0 defeat to Wales in Toulouse, taking responsibility for the loss and suggesting it ‘was time someone else took over.’
“I would like to apologise to the Russian supporters for our performances, the fans in the stadium and watching at home on TV, they did not deserve this,” he said.
“I take responsibility. I had enough time to find players. If we did not succeed it is truly my mistake. Someone else should take over with a big championship to come.”
Russia host the World Cup in 2018 and this was their last competitive match until then.
Slutsky, who replaced the sacked Fabio Capello and rescued the team’s Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, added: “We still qualified [for Euro 2016] so this could ultimately prove to be a positive experience. The players will still play in 2018 and we will try and take the positives from this experience.”
Slutsky has been combining the national job with coaching CSKA Moscow and will now revert to his club role.
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