He was also the first goalkeeper to be in action in the second half having to gather Jordi Alba’s goal-bound effort that came off his thigh. It was the start of some sustained Spanish pressure.

Six minutes into the half and Koke swung a free kick in the direction of Ramos but his header sailed over the bar. Isco’s strong run into the penalty area took him close to the goal line and his shot was blocked and another free kick, this time by Nacho, found the top of Carvajal’s head but he couldn’t find the direction to trouble Akinfeev.

The crowd noise lifted again in the 60th minute when Cheryshev was brought on, replacing Aleksandr Samedov, and a few minutes later Spain responded with Iniesta coming on for David Silva.

It was Sergio Busquets shot in the 82nd minute that had Kuipers checking with the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) for a possible handball but the appeal was brushed aside. As Spain continued to dominate Akinfeev brought off a fine save to his left with Iniesta’s drive from the edge of the area heading towards the bottom corner. Aspas was unable to follow up from a tight angle.

It looked like Golovin had worked his way through on goal with three minutes remaining but as he lined himself up for a shot the whistle blew for a foul on Alba.

It was Russia that had the last few efforts of regular time with Fyodor Smolov coming closest when he shot over de Gea’s crossbar.

There were very few clear cut chances created by either team during the second half and they headed into extra time.

Spain piled on the pressure but were still finding it hard to create meaningful opportunities with a shot by Marco Asensio from outside the area forcing a save from Akinfeev and a header from Piqué also finding the goalkeeper.

Russia’s defence had been resolute and organised and seemed to have no problem changing to the new formation. By the time the second period of extra time began it looked as though they were content to put their hopes on a penalty shoot out.

A strong run by Asensio in the 109th minute almost decided the tie. He brilliantly dummied past his marker and bore down on Akinfeev who parried away his shot and Carvajal slipped while trying to send the rebound goalwards.

With rain beginning to fall Spain had loud appeals for a penalty waved away again after being checked by VAR as both Ramos and Pique appeared to be held as they tried to attack a free kick.

There was one final attempt by Ramos before the final whistle and the penalty decider began.

Spain failed to even make it to the knockout phase in the last World Cup in 2014. This time they scraped through their group but to have lost to Russia in the round of 16 will be considered another failure. It will almost certainly be their captain Sergio Ramos’ last World Cup along with Iniesta and, possibly, Pique.

For Russia, the dream continues. Before a ball was kicked there were few locals that thought they could even get out of the group. The lowest ranked FIFA team in the competition (70th) have now made it into the quarter-finals and will go to Sochi to play the winners of the match between Croatia and Denmark.

The disbelieving followers have been turned around and will be doing all they can to carry their team on this unexpected wave of success.