Spain vs. Russia: Highlights from World Cup hosts' stunning victory in round of 16

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Spain vs. Russia: Highlights from World Cup hosts' stunning victory in round of 16 image

Despite its relative struggles of late, Spain wasn't exactly a welcome sight as the first elimination-round opponent for the 2018 World Cup host nation. But Russia was going to have to face a global juggernaut at some point in the tournament, and it was up to the task in the round of 16.

Russia pulled off a shocking upset of Spain on Sunday with a victory in penalty kicks, 1-1 (3-4).

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Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia had never beaten Spain, which entered Sunday's match unbeaten in its last 23 games (15 wins, eight draws), the longest current run among the 32 teams that started the World Cup. Its last defeat came two years ago against Italy in the round of 16 of the European Championships.

Russia, though, had been on fire before its loss to Uruguay in the final match of the group stage. It scored eight goals in its first two games despite posting an Expected Goals total of 3.06 for the group stage. Russia only managed seven shots against Spain (one on target), but it generated just enough offense to pull off the biggest elimination-round upset in World Cup history.

Below are some facts about Russia's win:

— Russia has reached the quarterfinal of the World Cup for the first time since the breakup of the Soviet Union.

— Spain has lost three of its four World Cup penalty shootouts (1986 vs. Belgium, 2002 vs. South Korea).

— Host nations have now won each of their last five penalty shootouts at the World Cup, since Italy lost to Argentina in the 1990 semifinal.

— Spain completed 1006 passes in this match, only 21 fewer than Russia has completed in its four World Cup matches (1027).

— Russia's Artem Dzyuba has scored with all three of his shots on target at the 2018 World Cup.

— Russia veteran defender Sergei Ignashevich became the oldest player to score an own goal at the World Cup(38 years and 352 days).

— Ignashevich’s own goal for Russia was the 10th own goal scored at the 2018 World Cup, double the number scored at the 2014 World Cup (five).

— Russia scored two own goals at the 2018 World Cup; the only other nation to score more than one own goal at a single World Cup tournament was Bulgaria in 1966 (also two).

— Including the penalty shootout in this match, Spain goalkeeper David De Gea made just one save in his four matches at the 2018 World Cup.

— Although Spain led for 29 minutes and 52 seconds in the first half (between the 12th and 41st minutes), it didn’t attempt its first shot at goal until the 45th minute.

— Sergio Ramos made his 17th appearance for Spain at the World Cup, a record for an outfield Spanish player and equalling the overall record held by goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

SN provided live updates during Russia's stunning upset of Spain on Sunday. Here's how it went down.

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Spain vs. Russia: World Cup highlights

Spain: 1 (3)
Russia: 1 (4)

Spain fifth shot: BLOCKED. Unbelievable. Russia wins with a foot save by Igor Akinfeev.

Russia fourth shot: GOAL. Denis Cheryshev converts.

Spain fourth shot: GOAL. Sergio Ramos sends one to the bottom left of the net as Igor Akinfeev dives right.

Russia third shot: GOAL. Sergei Ignashevich stays middle and sends it right over a diving David De Gea.

Spain third shot: BLOCKED. What a save by Igor Akinfeev, diving left. 

Russia second shot: GOAL. A little hesitation, and Sergey Ignashevich gets David De Gea to dive left while he goes right. 

Spain second shot: GOAL. Pique' restores Spain's lead with a strike to the bottom left of the net.

Russia first shot: GOAL. Fedor Smolov sneaks one by a diving David De Gea to the left.

Spain first shot: GOAL. Andres Iniesta goes right as Igor Akinfeev dives left.

120' (+2) — That's it. We're going to penalty kicks.

120' (+1) — Rodrigo gets a clean look with his left foot at the top of the box, but his shot to the bottom left is saved by Igor Akinfeev.

115' — A free kick from Spain sails out of bounds to the right of the goal, but some rough play leads to a stoppage in play and a check with VAR. The verdict: no penally.

114' — Russia's Sergei Ignashevich is charged with a foul.

110' — Spain's Iago Aspas is charged with a foul.

109' — Perhaps Spain's best chance to score in extra time thus far. A counter attack led by Rodrigo is stopped thanks to a couple deflections by Russia's defense.

106' — Second period of extra time begins.

105' (+2) — First period of extra time ends.

105' (+1) — Pique's header off a free kick is on target but grabbed by Russia goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev.

105' — Russia's Aleksandr Golovin is charged with a foul.

105' — Russia's Fedor Smolov is charged with a foul.

104' — Substitution: Spain's Rodrigo Moreno replaces Marco Asensio.

97' — Substitution: Russia's Aleksandr Erokhin replaces Daler Kuzyaev.

91' — First period of extra time begins.

90' (+5) — Second half ends. We're going to extra time. There will be two 15-minute periods.

90' (+3) — Russia's Fedor Smolov blasts a shot to the right edge of the goal, but it sails wide.

90' — A third consecutive corner from Spain is defended well by Russia. Sergio Ramos' header off the corner sails over the goal.

88' — Russia's Denis Cheryshev is charged with a foul.

85' — Andrés Iniesta's shot from the top of the box almost finds the left lower corner of the net, but it's saved by a diving Igor Akinfeev.

80' — Russia's Mario Fernandes is charged with a foul.

80' — Substitution: Spain's Iago Aspas replaces Diego Costa.

71' — Russia's Roman Zobnin is charged with a foul and shown a yellow card.

70' — Substitution: Spain's Daniel Carvajal replaces Nacho.

70' — Russia's Fedor Kudryashov is charged with a foul.

67' — Substitution: Spain's Andrés Iniesta replaces David Silva.

65' — Substitution: Russia's Fedor Smolov replaces Artem Dzyuba.

63' — Spain's Sergio Ramos is charged with a foul.

61' — Substitution: Russia's Denis Cheryshev replaces Aleksandr Samedov.

59' — A Spain corner is stopped short of the box and cleared by the Russia defense.

58' — Russia's Aleksandr Golovin is charged with a hand ball.

58' — A Russia corner is stopped short of the box and cleared by the Spain defense.

54' — Russia's Ilya Kutepov is charged with a foul and shown a yellow card.

50' — Russia's Aleksandr Golovin is charged with a foul.

47' — Jordi Alba shot attempt for Spain is saved by a diving Igor Akinfeev.

46' — Second half begins.

45' — Substitution: Russia's Vladimir Granat replaces Yuri Zhirkov.

45' (+3) — First half ends.

44' — Russia's Aleksandr Samedov is charged with a foul.

41' — GOAL : Artem Dzyuba's penalty kick for Russia finds the lower right corner of the net as Spain goalkeeper David De Gea dives the other direction. We're all tied up in Moscow.

40' — A hand ball in the box against Spain's Pique', which means a yellow card and a penalty kick for Russia.

36' — A great shot from Russia's Aleksandr Golovin sails just wide of the goal.

24' — Russia's Roman Zobnin is charged with a foul.

21' — Spain's Sergio Ramos is charged with a foul.

11' — GOAL : An own goal from a strike off a set piece on a free kick. The cross, intended for Sergio Ramos, hits a sliding Sergei Ignashevich in the leg and bounces into the net.

9' — Russia's Yury Zhirkov is charged with a foul. 

5' — Russia's Mario Fernandes is charged with a foul.

4' — A Russia corner sails wide and is cleared by Spain.

1' — Russia's Artem Dzyuba is charged with a foul.

1' — First half begins.

Pregame : The winner of Sunday's Spain-Russia match would advance to face the winner of the Croatia-Denmark match, which was scheduled to be played later in the day.

Pregame : Russian striker Artem Dzyuba compared Sunday's World Cup last-16 matchup against Spain to a world title fight with Russia cast as the daring underdog. Dzyuba accepts a clash with a star-studded Spain squad in Moscow as another tough task.

"For the first time in 32 years we've qualified for the knockout stage," he said . "Let's see what more can we do. It's going to be like a world title boxing fight. An experienced fighter against a young and daring one. Let's see who's better. Any team can beat anyone on a good day."

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