Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said on Sunday that Russia goalkeeper and captain Igor Akinfeev was "certainly a Russian hero" after helping his country to beat Spain on penalties in their World Cup round of 16 clash and making it through to the last eight.
Akinfeev was named the man of the match as he saved two penalties for his side, as Russia reached their first-ever World Cup quarter-finals since the break-up of the Soviet Union.
"An amazing victory, Akinfeev is certainly a Russian hero. This is the history of the Russian football, we believed in our team, but we could hardly imagine that we would manage to salvage the victory. The match was extremely difficult, Spain showed their perfect skills, but we managed... Now we have a match in Sochi, we support our team, we believe in them," Golodets told journalists.
In the last eight, Russia will face the winner of Croatia and Denmark’s encounter in Nizhny Novgorod later on Sunday. The quarterfinal will take place at Fisht Stadium in Sochi on 7 July.
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