Spain vs Russia

Russia will be looking to bounce back from defeat to Uruguay, while 2010 champions Spain will aim to finally hit their stride with a comfortable win
Host nation Russia will be looking to bounce back from their 3-0 loss to Uruguay when they face 2010 champions Spain in the last 16 tie at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

Russia were flying high in their opening two group fixtures when they won against Saudi Arabia and Egypt, though tasted their first defeat in their final game against Uruguay, who have a perfect record this competition with four consecutive victories having subsequently beaten Portugal in the last 16.

Spain topped their group ahead of Portugal thanks to VAR intervention and, following a disappointing 2014 campaign when they failed to defend their World Cup title, will be looking to progress far in Russia this summer.

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MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/. Footballers of the Russian national team have asked their fans to support them in the FIFA World Cup Last 16 match against Spain, the first knockout game in Russia’s modern history.

Team Russia’s video address to the fans was posted on the national squad’s page in the VKontakte social network on Saturday.

In their group stage matches, Russia beat Saudi Arabia 5-0 and Egypt 3-1 and lost to Uruguay 0-3, taking the second place in their Group A and getting to the playoff round for the first time in 32 years at FIFA World Cups.

"Dear friends, I want to thank you very much for the fact that you supported us during all the three matches and we felt your support," half-back Roman Zobnin said.

"We are set for a very difficult match with Spain and I know that all of you will come to the stadium and all of you will watch the match on TV. We will do our utmost, please, support us, and we will delight you with the game."

Half-backs Yuri Gazinsky and Denis Cheryshev and defender Ilya Kutepov also thanked their fans for the support.

"Only together will we be able to achieve a success as together we are strength," Gazinsky said.

"We will try to go further and get past Spain so that you can be proud of us," Cheryshev said.

"We have a very important match ahead of us and we will be waiting for you at the stadium because together we can achieve a lot," Kutepov said.

Team Russia will take on Spain at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow on Sunday.

Russia is staging its first-ever FIFA World Cup, which kicked off in Moscow with a spectacular opening show at the Luzhniki Stadium on the night of June 14.

The country selected 11 host cities to be the venues for the matches of the 2018 World Cup and they are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.

A total of 32 national football teams entered the 2018 FIFA World Cup and only 16 of them proceeded to the knockout phase after the group stage, which kicked off on June 14 and ended on June 28.

According to FIFA’s official statistics, the total number of fans at all stadiums during 48 matches of the group stage came to 2,178,894 people, which carries an average of 45,394 at each match.

The 48 already played matches out of all scheduled 64 games at this World Cup saw 122 scored goals (2.54 per match on the average), with the national team of Belgium scoring the most in its three group stage matches (nine goals).

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