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Did Russia striker Dzyuba teach Akinfeev the stunning save that sent Spain home? (VIDEO)
Goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev was the shootout hero as his saves sent Russia into the World Cup quarter-finals – but a clip has emerged suggesting striker Artem Dzyuba may have taught him the stunning stop that sent Spain packing.
Akinfeev pulled off two saves in Russia’s 4-3 shootout win against Spain, the second of which from Iago Aspas involved a stunning stop with his outstretched left leg while diving to his right.
The official Russian Twitter account of the Russian team has now posted a video showing team striker Artem Dzyuba – who was also one of the heroes against Spain, scoring a first-half penalty to level the scores at 1-1 – making a similar stop during a training session.
The tweet is captioned in Russian: “We’ll reveal a secret: It was Artem Dzyuba himself in training who taught Igor Akinfeev the last save in the shootout [against Spain].”
Откроем вам секрет: именно Артем Дзюба на тренировке обучил Игоря Акинфеева последнему сейву в серии пенальти 😎 pic.twitter.com/2rxcTEouko
— Сборная России (@TeamRussia) July 2, 2018
The video shows 6ft 4in striker Dzyuba between the sticks at training, pulling off a mirror-image stop to the one team captain Akinfeev made against Spain to win the shootout.
Russia booked their spot in the quarter-finals for the first time, beating a heavily fancied Spain team in front of 78,000 fans at a raucous Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
Akinfeev's penalty heroics led goalkeeping great Peter Schmeichel to say that the Russia 'keeper "deserves a statue" in his honor.
READ MORE: ‘Akinfeev deserves a statue’ – Schmeichel on Russian goalkeeping hero
“We see statues of the heroes all around Russia… Akinfeev deserves a statue after today,” RT special guest host Schmeichel said.