BEVERLY HILLS, June 01, (THEWILL) – Russia are through to the quarter-finals of their own World Cup after eliminating 2010 winners Spain on penalties. The game finished 1-1 after Spain struggled to break down the resolute hosts.
It didn’t quite have the thrill-a-minute feel of Saturday’s round if 16, but there was drama aplenty as Russia and Spain battled it out in the capital.
In a World Cup rapidly becoming known for own goals and set-piece efforts, Sergei Ignashevich handed Spain the lead with an own goal 11 minutes into the game.
The 38-year-old was so intent on preventing Spain’s Sergio Ramos from getting on the end of Isco’s free-kick, he lost sight of the ball before unwittingly turning it into his own net.
Russia responded well to falling behind and, buoyed by the boisterous home crowd, enjoyed promising spells.
The hosts were handed a lifeline on the stroke of half-time though, when Gerard Pique’s handball led to referee Bjorn Kuipers pointing to the spot.
Artem Dzyuba made no mistake to move on to three goals for the tournament and restore parity at the break.
The excitement of the first half dissipated soon after the restart as the game fell into a rather dull rhythm of Spain dominating possession without truly threatening.
Even the introduction of Denis Cheryshev and Andres Iniesta either side of the hour mark failed to spark the encounter back into life.
That was until the 85th minute, when after nearly 30 minutes without a significant chance on goal, Iniesta stung the palms of Igor Akinfeev, who completed a fine double save to deny Iago Aspas on the follow up, sending the tie into extra time.
There was little change to proceedings in the extra period as Spain continued toying with a deep-lying Russian side.
Akinfeev had to deny both Pique and Rodrigo late on, but his real heroics came in the shootout as he saved spotkicks from Koke and Iago Aspas to send Russia into the quarter finals as they won 4-3 on penalties.
