Spain’s David Silva says ‘Russia will be as difficult as playing Brazil’ ahead of Last 16 clash

Business time | Spain take on Russia in the last 16
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Spain's David Silva says there is no easy half of the World Cup draw and insists Sunday's last 16 match against hosts Russia will be as difficult as facing Brazil.

If Spain win at the Luzhniki Stadium, they will face Denmark or Croatia in the quarter-final, while Sweden, Switzerland, Colombia and England make-up the rest of their half of the draw.

Gareth Southgate's side are the only previous world champions but there are four previous winners - Uruguay, Brazil, France and Argentina - and European champions Portugal in the other half.

There has been fierce debate in England about the pros and cons of either side of the draw but Manchester City's Silva believes Spain's stuttering progress through a group containing Iran, Morocco and Portugal proves they can take nothing for granted.

"In a World Cup, every opponent is tough. You could see that in our group. It was very hard for us to win it. Playing Russia will be as difficult as playing Brazil," Silva told a pre-match press conference here in Moscow.

"All the big teams are having a hard time," he added. "Sometimes teams park the bus, and it can be very hard to shine because of that type of behaviour. I've been here a long time and there's always criticism. It's our turn. Sometimes there's somebody else shouldering this burden. We can only control what happens on the pitch."

Spain coach Fernando Hierro is not concerned about their dismal record against host nations at major tournaments. In eight meetings with a host nation, Spain have never won - a record dating back to 1934 when they lost in highly suspicious circumstances to World Cup hosts Italy, then under the control of dictator Benito Mussolini.

"Why are we always looking to the past?" asked Spain coach Fernando Hierro, who dismissed a question about the sacking of his predecessor Julen Lopetegui as "ancient history".

"We're in the fourth match of a World Cup. Are we going to look back 10 or 12 years ago? Everything is irrelevant except tomorrow at 5pm. That's what we have to focus on. The hosts will have a lot of support but we will have 11 million Spaniards watching us on television. The team is focused and we shouldn't worry - we're going to give it our all tomorrow.

"We have a very clear plan in mind. The team that makes the least mistakes will probably progress. We have strengths & weaknesses like any team. We need to be intelligent. We know what we need to solve. We've had to face difficult situations -- we were behind twice against Portugal but we reacted. And against Morocco. We've proven we can react to uphill battles."

Meanwhile, Russia boss Stanislav Cherchesov said he was taking inspiration from his victory over Hierro's Real Madrid with Spartak Moscow in the quarter-final of the 1991 European Cup.

Cherchesov was the Spartak goalkeeper when they beat Real 3-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu, where a young Hierro was at centre-half, after a goalless draw in Moscow to book their place in the semi-final.

"Anyone can be God if he tries to. Fernando was a good player, now he is a great coach," he said. "At that time, the Luzhniki was different, the weather different, and the teams were very different. Nobody believed we would win but we did and tomorrow we can repeat that success."

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