Spain were eliminated from the World Cup on Sunday, and David De Gea has reacted by posting a brutally honest message on social media. Tournament hosts Russia dumped out Spain on penalties with the 2010 World Cup winners heading back home with their tails between their legs. Fernando Hierro attempted to lead Spain's charge with a few days notice following Julen Lopetegui's ruthless sacking prior to kicking-off their campaign. Advert 10 While Spain topped Group B, they looked underwhelming with Russia ultimately securing a spot in the quarter-finals at 'La Roja's' expense. Their key players failed to deliver including De Gea who was subject to intense criticism following his outing between the sticks against Portugal. His massive blunder allowed Cristiano Ronaldo to score. Misery continued to plague his World Cup with the Manchester United stopper producing just ONE save, conceding six goals from seven shots in four matches. De Gea cuts a frustrated figure. Image: PA Advert 10 A day removed from exiting the World Cup, De Gea has taken to social media. "To whom supported, suffered and criticised us with respect, thanks. We're fucked but we'll get up again and never give up," he Tweeted. Para quienes apoyasteis, criticasteis con respeto y sufristeis con nosotros, gracias. Estamos jodidos pero nos levantaremos y no dejaremos de intentarlo :flag_es: To whom supported, suffered and criticised us with respect, thanks. We're fucked but we'll get up again and never give up. pic.twitter.com/es4NBr05CD - David de Gea (@D_DeGea) July 2, 2018 His awful statistics prompted Twitter user (@CentralWinger_) to create a saves compilation, and it's pretty brutal yet hilarious viewing. Advert 10 De Gea World Cup saves compilation.. pic.twitter.com/ZoLJQjbLeL - :rage: (@CentralWinger__) July 1, 2018 Brilliant. Reports even suggested that De Gea was going to be dropped from the starting XI. Even though he's just got one senior cap under his belt, Athletic Bilbao's Kepa Arrizabalaga was muted for a shock call-up. But Hierro stuck with De Gea. Advert 10 The 27-year-old will return to Old Trafford ahead of the new season. Though his name remains heavily linked with a sensational transfer to Real Madrid. Will he start in goal for United next season? Or does he seal a switch to the iconic Santiago Bernabeu?<doc-sep>It has been called “death by 1,000 passes.” Sunday in Moscow, the expression applied more literally than ever – just not how Spain originally intended. The Spaniards crashed out of the 2018 World Cup in the Round of 16 in stunning fashion, at the hands of Russia on penalties. It labored through 120 minutes that ended 1-1, then lost the shootout. It had smashed a World Cup passing record in those 120 minutes, completing 1,029 of its 1,137. Russia had just 202. But Spain was utterly impotent. It was completely bereft of ambition. It passed its own World Cup campaign to death, and perished in one of the biggest upsets in knockout round history. The 1,000 passes were deathly boring, too. They proved once and for all that possession stats are anything but indicators of attacking soccer. Spain played as cautiously as any team at the World Cup. And it paid the price. Sergio Ramos and Sergio Busquets complain to the referee during Spain’s Round of 16 World Cup match against Russia. (Getty) Andres Iniesta and Fyodor Smolov canceled each other out in the opening round of the shootout. Gerard Pique smashed Spain’s second in off the post, but 38-year-old Sergei Ignashevich wrong-footed David De Gea to equalize. And then Igor Akinfeev denied Koke to give Russia the advantage. De Gea had two chances to match Akinfeev. But he couldn’t get enough of a hand to Smolov’s opening penalty, and let Aleksandr Golovin’s slide underneath him. Akinfeev, Russia’s captain, then sent Spanish players crumbling to the turf in despair with an incredible kick-save on Iago Aspas. Akinfeev comes up HUGE for Russia! He saves Aspas' penalty to complete the biggest knockout-round upset in FIFA World Cup history. pic.twitter.com/CGBDb75GGT — FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 1, 2018 Russia is moving on to face either Croatia or Denmark. The right side of the bracket looks wide open. Spain is going home. And it only has itself to blame. Story continues Spain’s early dominance pays off There was a thought that Spain, aside from its opener against Morocco, had been scoring some very un-Spanish goals at the 2018 World Cup. But the opportunities to score scrappy or lucky goals are some of the many beneficial offshoots of all the possession and probing. Spain’s attacking-half control yielded a free kick near the right corner 10 minutes in. Sergio Ramos’ clever back-post movement had Ignashevich scrambling. And if the Russian defender hadn’t had the ball carom off his calf and into the net, he probably would have been whistled for a penalty. Spain take the lead early! The free kick comes to Sergio Ramos at the far post but it's Ignashevich who gets the last touch to put Spain up 1-0. pic.twitter.com/9j0mlZaMrE — FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 1, 2018 The goal, one might have thought, should have opened up the game. Russia had to come out of its uber-defensive shell. Spain would have more space going forward. But the reality was just the opposite. Spain’s unambitious control Russia’s approach didn’t change one bit after the early Spanish goal. Spain’s did, though. It was very content to keep the ball, whether of not it was putting pressure on that bunkered Russian defense. The result was an extremely dull half-hour, which is just how Spain likes it. La Roja mostly suppressed Russian counters. They strung together 30- and 40-plus passes without Russia completing a single one. The final first-half tallies had Spain with over 400 passes and Russia with just over 100. But there’s a balance to find between control and a keep-away game, and Spain couldn’t strike it. It was far too conservative with a mere one-goal lead. Even when Russia’s forwards and midfielders did take chances, and when Spain did play through the press, it rarely went to goal. I get the point of all the possession and control, but Spain’s biggest problem was refusing to take advantage when they did draw Russia out and get going at the defense pic.twitter.com/QZEWYB908P — Henry Bushnell (@HenryBushnell) July 1, 2018 In 83 minutes, Spain had 711 passes to Russia’s 162. It had already broken 2010 Argentina’s single-game record of 703. But it hadn’t had a single shot through 45 minutes. It struggled to penetrate. It rarely infiltrated the penalty box or the dangerous areas just outside it: 80’ Spain haven’t made a single pass into the D outside the Russian penalty area. https://t.co/srHNzUU41q pic.twitter.com/EKGGZpQF65 — Stats Zone (@StatsZone) July 1, 2018 All it took was one fluke to punish the lack of ambition. One mistake. And Pique complied with Russian hope late in the first half. Russia equalizes, Spain stays stagnant The hosts escaped their defensive half opportunistically, and won a 40th-minute corner. From it, Artem Dzyuba eluded Pique, rose to win the header, and smacked that header right into a flailing Pique arm. It was a clear-cut penalty. And Dzyuba buried it. Russia equalizes! Pique gets called for a handball in the box and Dzyuba buries the penalty to make it 1-1 just before halftime. pic.twitter.com/VYngWu0aTS — FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 1, 2018 The equalizer took us back to square one. Russia receded in the second half. Spain seemed content to play in front of Russia’s midfield line, rather than between the lines. When it did find a splitting pass, it rarely looked for the final one, instead staying cautious. Its three changes – Andres Iniesta for David Silva, Dani Carvajal for Nacho, and Iago Aspas for Diego Costa – didn’t change the shape or balance of the game. The second half was much like the first, absent the own goal and the pen. It petered out into extra time. Spain was more dangerous with Aspas, and eventually fourth sub Rodrigo, on the field. And it had a convincing penalty shout with five minutes remaining. Pique and Ramos were both hauled down by Russia defenders on a set piece. The referee’s whistle, though, was non-existent, and the VAR did not advise him to take a second look. After another half-chance or two, penalties beckoned. And Spain flamed out. Russia’s upset paves way for surprise finalist<doc-sep>For nearly 50 years — seriously, half a century — Spain’s reputation was a talented yet underachieving, we’ll-find-any-way-to-capitulate national side. For 120 minutes and several penalty kick rounds, those memories came roaring back. Seriously. What the hell? Before going further, a caveat: Spain entered the World Cup in turmoil, and is arguably the highest-intensity national program on the planet. The media scrutiny, the expectations, all of it singes the skin of each and every player who dons the uniform, even in random friendlies nobody else cares about. Their mistakes are amplified, and that’s brutal. If us writers had a dollar for every time we misspelled a word in a story before hitting the backspace key and fixing it, we’d be richer than every star player Spain took to Russia combined. That being said … Spain is so much more talented than the host nation it lost to Sunday morning, and so much more experienced at the highest levels of both club soccer and international soccer, it’s utterly absurd. Maybe Spain knew that. Maybe that’s why the Spanish were so punchless for two hours, especially after an early, fluky goal went in their favor. Maybe that’s why La Furia Roja thought they could continue to get away with playing Nacho as a fullback, or letting Koke drift into all sorts of positions on the pitch where he does nothing for the setup, or playing boom-ball without a striker on the roster who’s actually decent at hold-up play. (Alvaro Morata waves hello!) Maybe that’s why Spain passed the ball into oblivion and lulled the audience into antiquity, even when Russia equalized shortly before halftime thanks to a penalty. This wasn’t tiki-taka. This was icky-taka. It was thoroughly unbecoming of the greatest dynasty international soccer has ever seen. Lots of the fixtures of those sides that took over the planet around the turn of the decade are still stalwarts now, including Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, David Silva and plenty others who saw the pitch on Sunday. Story continues And there was this strange malaise, this baseless assumption that 90 minutes would pass and after they did, Spain would be through to the quarters. Soccer doesn’t work like that. Spain, of ALL nations, should know it doesn’t work like that. But they didn’t work. The imagination was lacking. The genuine threats to Russia’s net weren’t there. (Getty) The statistics were lopsided in favor of Spain. Twenty-five shots to nine. Nine shots on goal to one. Nineteen fouls to five. A possession masterclass that saw Spain complete more passes in one match than Russia had THE ENTIRE TOURNAMENT. But that’s the thing, isn’t it? That’s the Arsene Wenger corollary, writ large. You can dominate the ball, but you aren’t dominating anything else unless that turns into goals. Again, part of that is endemic to Spain’s identity. Calm, control, monopolization of the ball, etc. But Spain’s identity, at least to younger fans who know nothing else over the past decade, is also winning. That didn’t happen against Russia. That didn’t happen this World Cup. That didn’t happen because despite its hallowed status, Spain was just another team in how it approached things Sunday. What an unfitting World Cup sendoff for this generation of incredible Spaniards. What an unremarkable exit for an objectively intriguing and fun-to-watch team. Now we get Russia in the quarterfinals, and there’s something to be said for the energy associated with the hosts making a deep run. There are certain things that can’t be ignored about the country, with its corruption and rampant bigotry and hideous social issues. Yes, we just mentioned it. No, we won’t address it further in this space. But we also won’t attach the horrific shortcomings of an entire nation to 23 soccer players who mostly just want to play the game they love, represent their homeland and be respectful. They’re moving on. And the Spaniards are not. And with all due respect, that has to sting them way more than neutrals. Joey Gulino is the editor of FC Yahoo and moonlights as a writer. Follow him on Twitter at @JGulinoYahoo. More World Cup on Yahoo Sports: • Bushnell: Power ranking the Round of 16 • MVPs and LVPs of the group stage • Dates, kickoff times for the Round of 16 • What could replace yellow cards as FIFA’s last-ditch tiebreaker?<doc-sep>Who do Liverpool need to sign to re-claim the title? Keep up with all the Reds news with our free daily newsletter Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice The Liverpool fans had a message for Sergio Ramos following Spain's World Cup last-16 defeat by Russia on Sunday. The 2010 World Cup winners were one of the favourites to go the whole way before the start of this summer's tournament, but couldn't get past the hosts. After 120 minutes of what was a relatively dull game, given the standard set by France and Argentina the day before, the contest went to penalties where Russia prevailed 4-3. Ramos, who attempted to claim Spain's opener, before it correctly went down as a Sergei Ignashevich own goal, was understandably devastated after Iago Aspas missed his final spot-kick to send his nation out of the tournament. (Image: AFP) The Real Madrid centre-back broke down in tears on the pitch, but perhaps unsurprisingly, he didn't get any sympathy from Liverpool fans watching the action at home. Reds supporters fell out with the Spaniard during the Champions League final, when a Ramos challenge on Mo Salah ended the Egyptian's night early. (Image: Getty) After the match Ramos mocked the Liverpool fans, saying: "Bloody hell, they've given this a lot of attention, the Salah thing. "I didn't want to speak because everything is magnified. I see the play well, he [Salah] grabs my arm first and I fell to the other side, the injury happened to the other arm and they said that I gave him a judo hold. (Image: Getty Images Europe) "After the goalkeeper said that I dazed him with a clash. I am only missing [Roberto] Firmino saying that he got a cold because a drop of my sweat landed on him." And now, after Spain's shock defeat, it seems Reds fans have got their own back...<doc-sep>
Spain are out of the World Cup after losing 4-3 in a penalty shootout to hosts Russia in Moscow. The two teams drew 1-1 after extra time and while Spain were the dominant side throughout, they paid the price for settling for sterile dominance, writes Adam Bate. "We forgot to score the second goal." That was the famous verdict of Johnny Rep after the great Netherlands team "passed the ball around and around" before West Germany came from behind to beat them in the 1974 World Cup final in Munich. Spain became the latest team to make that same mistake against the hosts as they were eliminated in Russia. It had all looked so easy when Spain took an early lead thanks to Sergei Ignashevich's own goal. But they settled for sterile domination and paid the price when Gerard Pique's handball gave Artem Dzyuba the chance to equalise from the spot five minutes before half-time. Perhaps that should have been the clue that penalties would be Spain's downfall. Around two hours later and with no further goals from their team, they were out of the competition. Koke and Iago Aspas saw their penalties saved by Igor Akinfeev and Russia progressed. With Spain having been utterly dominant for long periods, that might be regarded as an injustice. But Fernando Hierro and his players were accomplices in the crime. For all their apparent superiority, and they made more than 1000 passes in the match, Spain did not so much as have a shot until the 45th minute of the match. Even after the interval when it became increasingly apparent that one more mistake would end their tournament, there was a 40-minute period in which they did not register a shot on target. Russia were defensive and dogged, of course, but their more gifted opponents did not do enough to find the breakthrough. The two holding midfielders, Sergio Busquets and Koke, remained on the pitch until the end. Spain seemed seduced by their own illusion of control. Tiki-taka at its worst. As Pep Guardiola once said: "I loathe all that passing for the sake of it." Image: Koke is consoled after seeing his penalty for Spain against Russia When asked about Spain's talented younger generation, Xavi recently recalled the words of his old international coach, the late Luis Aragones. "What do you like? ", Aragones had once asked him. "Nice football or good football?" There was a lot of nice football by this Spain side but not enough of the good football that could and should have separated the sides. Isco had threatened to control the game in the opening stages but before the first half was out he was nonchalantly overhitting no-look passes out of play. Koke seemed happy enough to stroke the ball sideways rather than play with the sort of penetration that he offers for Atletico Madrid. At times, this was possession football at its most defensive. Hierro's substitutions did make a difference. Andres Iniesta, surprisingly omitted from the starting line-up for a key game at a major tournament for the first time in his Spain career, provided more ideas. Iago Aspas brought greater movement. Rodrigo did not arrive until the 104th minute but was soon driving at the defence and causing problems. Too little too late. Image: Isco threatened to dominate early on but could not finish off Russia Spain still might have been awarded a penalty of their own in the dying moments. Certainly, Ignashevich appeared to be tugging at Pique's shirt, although Sergio Ramos was as much sinner as sinned against in his own tussle. That the decision did not go Spain's way evoked memories of 2002 and the controversial shootout exit to then co-hosts South Korea. But to focus on misfortune would be to overlook the massive flaws that were exposed in the four games that Spain did get to play in Russia. The death-by-passing strategy that propelled Vicente Del Bosque's team to victory in 2010, with four consecutive 1-0 wins, was built on the capacity to keep clean sheets as much as hurt the opposition. This team could not do it. "The most important quality in winning a World Cup is transmitting defensive solidity," Pique himself had pointed out prior to the game. So what was he doing flinging his hand into the air - and there was a second motion towards the ball beyond his initial leap - when defending that first-half corner? It was just the latest in a series of sloppy errors.