By Paul Giblin
MOSCOW, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Veteran Russian defender Serguei Ignashevich believes his side's best chance of beating Spain in their last 16 tie on July 1 is to try and take advantage of Spain's poor defending in the current World Cup.
Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea has been at the center of criticism of a Spanish side that has conceded five goals in their group matches and defenders Sergio Ramos and Dani Carvajal have both looked to be below their best.
Russia lost their last group game 3-0 to Uruguay and that defeat means they will face Spain in the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow with 81,000 fans getting behind them. "We will take advantage of the weakness Spain showed in the first stage," Ignashevich said. "Spain defended very high up the pitch and left spaces. Morocco were able to exploit that (in a 2-2 draw) and I hope we can do as well," he said from the Russian training center close to Moscow.
Ignashevich warned that although it was hard to say Spain had any star players; they "play as a team."
"Diego Costa isn't their only threat, all of their forwards are dangerous: when he is tired, Rodrigo comes on and also Aspas, who is different from the other two. That makes our job much more difficult because you can't get used to one style of play," the 38-year-old said.
Finally Ignashevich gave his support to the controversial VAR system in use in Russia, saying that both defenders and attackers have to be more careful with the new system in place.
