• Russia qualify for the quarter-final after beating Spain on penalties
• It was the country’s first shootout at the World Cup
• The Russians scored all their penalties and Igor Akinfeev made two saves

After executing their game plan to perfection, denying Spain in both normal and extra time, Russia entered unchartered waters earlier this afternoon at the Luzhniki Stadium. Although the Sbornaya had reached the FIFA World Cup™ quarter-finals four times in a row as the Soviet Union, from 1958 through to 1970, they had never previously got this far thanks to a penalty shoot-out.

Twice before, at the 1970 and 1986 editions, the team experienced extra time, but on both occasions they ended up losing inside 120 minutes – against Uruguay 1-0 and Belgium 4-3 respectively. Russia’s five stars in the shootout today have therefore written their names into the history books.