Spain were ineffective and unable to get beyond 1-1 with hosts Russia in 120 minutes, then Igor Akinfeev saved twice in a penalty shoot-out.
Russia are through to the quarter-finals of their home World Cup and another of the tournament favourites have gone out after Germany, Argentina and Portugal.
Spain were ineffective and unable to get beyond 1-1 with hosts Russia in 120 minutes, then Igor Akinfeev saved twice in a penalty shoot-out.
Russia are through to the quarter-finals of their home World Cup and another of the tournament favourites have gone out after Germany, Argentina and Portugal.
It had been a troubled campaign for La Roja, who fired Coach Julen Lopetegui just days before kick-off and struggled through the group stage. Fernando Hierro surprisingly dropped Andres Iniesta in favour of Marco Asensio. Hosts Russia had done surprisingly well in qualifying, but Igor Smolnikov was suspended, Alan Dzagoev injured and Denis Cheryshev benched.
Spain dominated possession, as expected, but took the lead in curious circumstances. A free kick was whipped to the back post, where Sergei Ignashevich was so busy trying to drag Sergio Ramos down that he didn’t notice the ball ricochet off his ankle and into the net.
It was largely a passing monologue for Spain with the occasional break, as Aleksandr Golovin curled just wide of the far post from 15 yards.
Spain gave away a penalty when Gerard Pique jumped with his arm straight up in the air, giving him little space to argue it wasn’t intentional handball. Artem Dzyuba stepped up to convert, sending David De Gea the wrong way.
Igor Akinfeev rushed off his line and got just enough on a Diego Costa attempt to turn it across the face of goal, but Spain were so sterile.
At the 84th minute, substitute Iniesta’s snapshot from the D was beaten away at the near bottom corner and Iago Aspas fired the rebound across the face of goal.
Sergio Ramos was caught in possession and Russia couldn’t make the most of the counter-attack, while Fedor Smolov fired wide rather than cross.
It went to extra time and under new rules in this World Cup, the teams are allowed a fourth substitution beyond the 90 minutes. Rodrigo Moreno sprinted at the Russian defence down the right wing and his shot stung Akinfeev’s gloves at the near post.
On 115 minutes, a free kick saw wrestling in the box with Pique seemingly pulled down, but the penalty wasn’t given after a VAR review.
They could only be divided by a penalty shoot-out. Koke was third up and his fairly central effort was parried by Akinfeev. All the others were converted successfully and Iago Aspas had to score to keep the shoot-out going to the end, but his attempt was kicked away by Akinfeev’s trailing foot.
Spain 1-1 Russia (aet, 3-4 on pens)
Ignashevich og 12 (S), Dzyuba pen 41 (R)
Penalties: Iniesta (S, goal), Smolov (R, goal), Pique (S, goal), Ignashevich (R, goal), Koke (S, saved), Golovin (R, goal), Ramos (S, goal), Cheryshev (R, goal), Aspas (S, saved)
Spain: De Gea; Nacho (Carvajal 70), Piqué, Ramos, Jordi Alba; Koke, Busquets; David Silva (Iniesta 67), Isco, Asensio (Rodrigo 104); Diego Costa (Aspas 79)
Russia: Akinfeev; Fernandes, Fernandes, Kutepov, S Ignashevich, Kudriashov, Zhirkov (Granat 46); Samedov (Cheryshev 60), Zobnin, Kuziaev (Erokhin 97); Dzyuba (Smolov 65), Golovin
Ref: Kuipers (NED)