Gerard Pique scored from the spot but it was his handball that had given the game away as Spain went down 3-4 on penalties against hosts Russia, who sailed into their first ever World Cup quarterfinal, after holding the Spanish passing engine to 1-1 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on Sunday.
Russia scored from all of their shots in the penalty-shootout but goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev stopped Koke’s hit and kicked Iago Aspas’ into the stands to send Spain home and the stadium into a delirium.
Defending a corner in the 40th minute, Pique leaped to head away Aleksandr Samedov’s ball into the box but left his hand soaring high that stopped a goal-bound header forcing referee into giving Russia – who were 0-1 down – a penalty. Artem Dzyuba then equalised for the hosts from what remained their only shot in target.
The only other time they did manage to hit another on target was when Spain scored. Sergei Ignashevich rolling the ball into his own net from a Marco Asensio free-kick as early as the 10th minute. But Spain returned the favour in the same-half through a Pique handball and from there the game subsided in a training pitch, ‘La Roja’ happily passing the ball around and Russia defending their line.
However this was not what is felt like when Spain took the lead in the first 10 minutes and Russia looked out of sorts against the ‘tiki-taka’ brand of football. But for all the rumours of the former champions muddling their passing game with a straight and direct football, they continued the same tradition that has become vague in recent times.
‘La Roja’ dominated the possession completing at-least four-times the passes that Russia managed, but their football as always was one-dimensional with most balls going to the flanks or backways but not many behind the Russian wall, who stood tall and smart, nullifying spanish-attacks in concord.
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Spain hit nine shots on target from 17 attempts but it wasn’t until Andres Iniesta’s volley in the 84th minute that Akinfeev was troubled. He dived low to keep the former Barcelona man’s shot away, while also recovering quick to nudge Iago Aspas’ flick out for a corner.
The 32-year old goalkeeper eventually turned out to be the difference, stopping two Spanish shots in the penalty shootouts to send his country to their maiden quarter-final appearance at the World Cup.
Next Match: Croatia vs Denmark from Nizhny Novgorod Stadium at 11:30 pm IST