Oh dear.

The World Cup kicked off this afternoon.

Hosts Russia thumped Saudi Arabia 5-0.

Goals from Yuri Gazinskiy, Artem Dzyuba, Aleksandr Golovin and a brace from Denis Cheryshev sent the hosts on their way.

The match was in Moscow - but there were bad reports coming from St.Petersburg that morning.


PinkNews is reporting that a gay couple was attacked by Russian natives early on Thursday.

There had been fears of violence against LGBT people travelling to the country for the tournament.

The Russian government even told fans to hide their sexuality in public.

A gay couple – who had travelled to Russia to cheer on France – have been beaten in St Petersburg.

The pair were targeted after catching a taxi together.

The main victim, named as O. Davrius, was taken to the hospital, where doctors discovered that he had a brain contusion.


He also suffered an open craniocerebral injury and an upper jaw fracture.

The victims’ telephones and money were also taken during the incident.

Two men in their 20s were arrested in connection with the attack.

They were named as Ismet Gaidarov and Rasul Magomedov.

Russia has not had a great history with LGBT rights.

So much so that bookmaker Paddy Power were keen to capitalise on it.

They're paying £10,000 per Russian goal at the tournament to Attitude magazine’s Foundation to fund efforts to make football more inclusive.


Which means that Foundation is already £50,000 up after just one game.