Vladimir Putin has criticised the Russia national team for their poor performances ahead of the 2018 World Cup on home soil.
Speaking two days after Russia lost 2-1 to Qatar in a friendly between the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts, Putin said: "To be honest, we haven't seen beautiful play from the national team for a long time."
The Russian president also compared their performance with Russia's "pleasing" ice hockey team.
Russia have won just one of their last 10 games and crashed out of this summer's European Championship without winning a game.
That prompted the resignation of coach Leonid Slutsky, but things have not picked up under his replacement Stanislav Cherchesov, whose four games in charge have included a draw with Turkey and defeat to Costa Rica.