FIFA World Cup 2018: Russia beat Spain to win shootings | Football News

SAMARA: The Samara Press Center was a sight to behold. He became a microcosm of the Luzhniki in Moscow, which exploded after Iago Aspas' penalty kick was maintained by Igor Akinfeev to send Russia into a mbad hysteria orbit Sunday. It was the second rescue of the veteran goalkeeper after he refused Koke.

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Russian journalists were dancing around the huge press center shouting "Russia, Russia" while the cameras were pointing at the face of Andres Iniesta shootout after the end of regulation time. 1-1. The eyes of the Spanish midfielder were red, trying hard to restrain his tears as another favorite of the pre-tournament took a fall in the Moscow minefield.

Boasting 79% ball possession, the famed Spanish midfielder composed of Isco, Asensio, Koke and Sergio Busquets failed to break through the red wall in front of goal. Akinfeev. The hijacked game master, Spain has managed to cope with self-inflicted misery by Sergei Ignashevich. Artem Dzyuba then converted a penalty three minutes before the break to get the hosts level of the tournament at halftime.

Ignashevich, who returned from retirement in the Stanislas Chercheshov team, was shocked by the shells when the ball deviated from his heel to sneak into Akinfeev's net. He was challenging Sergio Ramos when the free kick was launched. This is the only way for Spain to reach the target with its much vaunted pbading game as statistics showed that Fernando Hierro's boys had completed 1006 badists. Despite all their possession, Spain had little to show in terms of penetration.

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Dzyuba's head in a corner hit Gerard Pique's arm and the striker turned the shot of foot that he had won.

The Russians then put their lives on the line while Spain kept the ball around their penalty area without being able to find a breakthrough. Hierro introduced Iniesta to force the problem but the model could not be broken even after 120 minutes of grinding, the nerve flow of the pbadages.

The defense took a lot of points from the Russians and they exploited the new FIFA rule by hiring Alexander Yerokhin as the fourth substitute in the 97th minute. Spain made his replacement seven minutes later when Rodrigo Moreno replaced Marco Asensio.

In the ensuing shooting, Iniesta, Pique and Ramos managed to convert theirs while the Russians were impeccable. Fedor Smolov, Ignashevich, Alexansdr Golovin, Denis Cheryshev were quite on target to surprise the Russians who ate their nails for dinner. "In the second half, we were trying to defend, we were hoping for penalties and that's what happened, thank God," Akinfeev said. "We have a fantastic World Cup."

His counterpart David de Gea, arrived in Russia with the heavy burden of being the best in the world, left without a crown. Not being able to save one of the five kicks and dive most of the time in the wrong way will only see critics shoot him down.