FIFA World Cup 2018: Spain suffers shock defeat to hosts Russia via tie-breaker

Russia captain Igor Akinfeev was the hero as the hosts stunned Spain 43 on penalties after they played out a 11 draw at Moscows Luzhniki Stadium yesterdayAkinfeev had already made good saves as Russia held on to force extratime and spotkicks mdash but he then saved from Koke and Iago Aspas in the shootoutRussian players are ecstatic after beating Spain via penaltiesPoor SpainIt was a remarkable finale to a game Spain dominated in terms of possession but simply did not do enough to win and Russia can now look forward to a quarterfinal next Saturday in SochiRussia coach Stanislav Cherchesov dropped Spanishbased winger Denis Cheryshev and went with five at the back The limitations of this became obvious when Aleksandr Golovin scampered down the wing in the fourth minute but had nobody to cross to mdash he held on and settled for a corner Spain meanwhile passed and passed and passed And then in the 11th minute rightback Nacho was fouled just outside the Russian box giving Marco Asensio no excuse whatsoever but to deliver a ball into the boxThe Real Madrid star did so and it was a fine delivery but not as good as Sergey Ignashevich made it look A fortnight short of his 39th birthday the CSKA stopper is old enough to know you need to watch the ball Sadly he had eyes only for Sergio Ramos who he successfully wrestled to the floor only for the ball to cannon off his heel for a comical own goalOn 41 minutes Ramos scuffed a clearance to give Russia their third corner It was delivered to Artem Dzyuba who met it firmly with his head only for Gerard Pique to bat it down volleyball style The crowd roared Pique howled the referee pointed to the spot and the VAR whispered his approval Dzyuba then smashed the ball home for the games first shot on target and his third goal of the tournamentThe regular time ended 11 which meant Russia was extending its World Cup by at least half an hour and Spain had still not beaten a host nation at a major championship in 90 minutesAdvantage RussiaSix minutes into bonus time Russia took advantage of the new rule allowing a fourth sub in extra time bringing on historymaker Aleksandr Erokhin to help some tired legs in midfield The noise that erupted when the referee finally waved played on was immenseIniesta stepped up first and scored Smolov replied but David De Gea got a fingertip to it Pique scored his and Ignashevich coolly replied Akinfeev then saved Kokes effort before Golovin Ramos and Cheryshev scored meaning Aspas had to score He did not and Russia went wildMatt SlaterCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever