Russia 1-1 Spain (4-3 on penalties): World Cup highlights and recap

Russia beat Spain on penalties to make it to the World Cup quarterfinals. Here are all the highlights from the match.

Spain crashed out of the World Cup in Moscow on Sunday, beaten on penalties after hosts Russia had frustrated them for 120 minutes with a resilient defensive effort. La Roja completed over 1000 passes, but were woefully short of inspiration in the final third. The loss continues their streak of never having beaten a host nation at the World Cup.

The pattern of the game was established early on, with Spain dominating the ball and Russia sitting deep in their 5-4-1 formation, hoping to pick off any scraps on the break. Given La Roja’s struggles defending in transition so far this tournament, not to mention their immense technical quality, it was an understandable approach.

Once Spain took the lead in the 11th minute, however, Sergei Ignashevich turning a Marco Asensio free-kick into his own net under heavy pressure from Sergio Ramos, it was hard to see a way back into the game for the hosts. The more they committed numbers forward, the easier it would be for Spain to pick them off.

But Fernando Hierro’s side struggled going forward, passing the ball sideways without penetrating Russia’s defensive lines with any regularity. Isco was bright, but David Silva struggled to get involved and Diego Costa’s strengths were largely minimized with Russia sticking so many men behind the ball.

Russia equalized in the 41st minute from the spot, after Gerard Pique handled in the box. It was a bizarre play from the Barcelona man, who left his arm way up in the air while defending a corner. Artem Dzyuba converted easily to David de Gea’s left. The goal, slightly fortunate thought it was, was justification for Russia’s reactive approach.

The second half was an even more exaggerated version of the first. Spain completed hundreds more passes than their opponents and still created very little. Andres Iniesta, on for Silva for the final half hour, forced a good save from Igor Akinfeev late on, but Russia looked mostly comfortable as the match went to extra time.

Russia were clearly happy to play for penalties at this point, but it was still notable how hard Spain found it to create good chances. Every time one of their attacking midfielders found space between the lines, they seemed to play backwards or sideways, failing to capitalize on the rare pockets of space they were able to open up.

Rodrigo, an extra-time substitute, had a decent sight of goal in the second half of stoppage time, beating his man one-on-one before drilling a shot Akinfeev did well to save. The chance only served to underline how much La Roja had been lacking players willing to drive at their opponents to make something happen.

Penalties it was. After the first four were all scored, Akinfeev saved Koke’s spot kick to give Russia the advantage. After goals from Alexander Golovin and Denis Cheryshev, Iago Aspas had to score to keep Spain alive, but saw his penalty saved by Akinfeev’s outstretched left leg, sending the hosts through to the quarterfinals.

Next: Russia 2018: The best player on every team at the World Cup

Highlights

Russia will face either Croatia or Denmark in the quarter finals on Saturday, July 7.