More than 74 percent possession, an astonishing 1,137 passes and utter territorial domination, yet the only statistic that counted in the end for Spain was the two penalties it missed after it strangled itself out of the World Cup on Sunday.
Igor Akinfeev assumed instant Yuri Gagarin status by saving two of Spain’s spot kicks. However, in truth it was just about the only time the Russia goalkeeper was seriously tested as, despite pinning the host deep in its own half for most of the 120 minutes, the 2010 champion managed only nine shots on target — and precious few of those carried any venom.
Spain reached the pinnacle of the sport on the back of a game built on relentless passing aligned with bottomless patience and faith that it would always, eventually, find a way through.
On Sunday, that patience proved its undoing against a desperately tired and wilting last 16 opponent who should have been ripe to be sliced apart.
Instead, Spain seemed entirely incapable of increasing the pace as, minute by minute, home hopes grew from a long-shot dream, through a gradual realisation that its highly ranked rival was not actually that dangerous, to eventual delirious celebration.
With 35 minutes on the clock, Spain had made 300 passes to the 63 of Russia but had not mustered a single effort on target and led only through Sergei Ignashevich’s comical own goal.
Russia’s approach was to sit deep and allow the ball to be caressed around in front of it at little more than walking pace.
It looked a sensible approach as, with Andres Iniesta surprisingly dropped to the bench, none of the Spaniards seemed willing or capable to inject that game-changing moment of acceleration or inspiration that has been their trademark for a decade.
So a stalemate ensued until after a rare attack Russia found its way back level via Artem Dzyuba’s 41st-minute penalty after Gerard Pique’s handball from a corner.
There was little change in the pattern after the break, forcing coach Fernando Hierro to introduce Iniesta.
With Russia withdrawing Dzyuba, the host played the last half hour of normal time without anyone left upfield as an outlet, with all 10 outfield players content to sit even deeper as Spain continued its possession domination.
Exhaustion
The home crowd greeted the arrival of extra time as if it had won the World Cup but Spain, seeing several of its rivals dropping to the floor with cramp and exhaustion, was no doubt confident that the host would eventually crack if it just kept rolling the ball from side to side.
The Russians, who covered more ground per-player than any other side in the group stage, deserve enormous credit for the work they put in to stay tight and close down every threat. Though, in truth the limited and slow-paced movement from Spain’s front men made it an easier task than it should have been.
They held firm as extra time reached the halfway point and then summoned a Herculean final effort in the final 15 minutes as Spain finally seemed to realise its looming predicament.
Preparing for its first major tournament shootout, it looked as if coach Stanislav Cherchesov might struggle to find five men with enough energy left to take a penalty.
In the end he needed only four after Akinfeev’s heroics completed one of the all-time great World Cup backs-to-the-wall performances and sent Russia into the quarterfinals.