Russia are hoping for a World Cup miracle on Sunday (Jul 1) as the host nation take on 2010 winners Spain for a place in the quarter-finals.
Russia came into the tournament derided by their own supporters after a string of defeats in warmup matches but they thrashed Saudi Arabia 5-0 in their opener and then swept aside Egypt 3-1, making even their own skeptical public believe.
A comprehensive defeat to Uruguay provided a reality check but Russia and striker Denis Cheryshev will be roared on by much of the 80,000 crowd in the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow and they see no reason to fear Andres Iniesta, Isco and Diego Costa.
"I think that we can win against anybody, we can always win and that's what we need to believe, just think about victory," Cheryshev said.
Spain midfielder David Silva said his side will be treating the match "as if we were playing against Brazil."
Spain have a terrible record against host nations at major finals - they have never won in eight attempts and coach Fernando Hierro played when minnows South Korea knocked out his Spain team on penalties in 2002.
"Statistics are made to be broken," Hierro said. "Why are we always looking backwards? We've had three games here but we're going to look at what happened 10 or 15 years ago? It's about what happens (today)."
UNBEATEN DANES MEETS TALENTED CROATS
The other last-16 match pits a talented Croatia team led by Luka Modric that had a perfect record in the group phase against Denmark.
Denmark coach Age Hareide said his side's match against Croatia could boil down to who comes out on top in the midfield battle between Tottenham powerhouse Christian Eriksen and Modric.
The Danes failed to set pulses racing in the opening round but advanced second behind France in Group C.
By contrast, Croatia stormed through Group D, winning all three games and put in arguably the best performance of the first stage, a 3-0 thumping of Argentina, in Nizhny Novgorod, where they will also play Denmark.
Hareide said his team would show far more thrust on Sunday.
"I think you will see a different Denmark from what you have seen so far and the type of game we have played," Hareide said. "Yes, we need to defend but we need to attack more."
Denmark are unbeaten for 18 games, a national record, their last defeat coming against Montenegro in October 2016 and have kept six clean sheets in their past seven games thanks to 'keeper Kasper Schmeichel.
If Denmark beat Croatia, it will be only the second time the Danes have qualified for the last eight of the World Cup, the other occasion being in 1998.
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