As both matches in the round of 16 of the 2018 Men’s World Cup on SUN 01 JUL 2018 were decided on penalties, goalkeepers stood tall.

• Spain 01-01 Russia [F/OT; pen: 03-04]: Spain were out in front early as a 12th minute free kick was redirected into his own net by Sergey IGNASHEVICH. Following that, Spain dominated possession, only to concede an equaliser from the spot late in the first half. A handball in the area by Gerard PIQUÉ led to the penalty, scored by Artem DZYUBA. La Furia Roja ended up with three quarters of the possession and forced nine saves from Igor AKINFEEV, but could not break through in regulation nor in extra time. The match was decided on penalties, when Akinfeev kept KOKE’s and Iago ASPAS’s efforts out. Russia advance to the quarterfinals, their best performance since reaching the second group phase in 1982 as the Soviet Union.
• Croatia 01-01 Denmark [F/OT; pen: 03-02]: The action in Nizhny Novgorod opened at a fast pace, as both teams scored in the first four minutes. Denmark went ahead just 57 seconds in, as Croatian goalkeeper Danijel SUBAŠIĆ could not keep Mathias JØRGENSEN’s low shot out. Moments later, with the ball loose inside the Danish area, an attempted clearance bounded to the feet of Mario MANDŽUKIĆ, who made no mistake. But from then on, the match largely settled down until the second extra time period, when Croatia’s Ante REBIĆ, on a counterattack, rounded goalkeeper Kasper SCHMEICHEL and was brought down by Jørgensen. Schmeichel, however, saved Luka MODRIĆ’s penalty with a minimum of effort, and soon both teams would have to go to the spot. Both Schmeichel and Subašić saved two of the first four shots they faced, but Subašić then made a third save off Nicolai JØRGENSEN, and Ivan RAKITIĆ converted his to send Croatia into the last eight for the first time since 1998. They travel to Sochi for a quarterfinal matchup against the hosts on Saturday.