Veteran goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev was the hero of the last 16 tie between Russia and Spain with a fine double save in a 4-3 shootout win for his country, triggering a wave of praise from football fans across the country.
Akinfeev made a string of saves during the match and also kept out penalties from Spain's Koke and Iago Aspas to clinch the tie and set up a quarter-final match in Sochi against either Croatia or Denmark.
Twitter was quick to praise Akinfeev, with many joking the 32-year-old's performance was enough to make him the new president of Russia.
An own goal from Russia defender Sergei Ignashevich and an equalizer at the other end from striker Artem Dzyuba made the score 1-1 at the end of normal time.
That's the way it stayed through extra time, meaning penalties were used for the first time in the tournament to decide a knockout game, with Fedor Smolov, Ignashevich, Aleksandr Golovin and Denis Cheryshev giving Russia the win.