Party like a Russian

RUSSIA woke seeing stars yesterday after a World Cup party across 11 time zones reached outer space.

Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev tweeted his congratulations on their dramatic victory over Spain from the space station. He posted a video celebrating victory with the message: ‘Hoooray! Russia made it to 1/4 of #WC2018!’

The host nation’s new hero, goal keeper Igor Akinfeev, was dubbed “the golden leg of Russia” on the official team Twitter account, a reference to TSAR WE GO Painting the town at the Winter Palace in St Petersburg his dramatic final save in the penalty shootout. The toast across the land was to “our victory” – and to “Black Spider” Lev Yashin, also a goalie and regarded as the greatest ever.

Host nation Russia, the lowest ranked team in the competition, will now meet Croatia in Sochi on Saturday.

Russia’s captain Akinfeev, 32, said: “Not just our fans, but fans of other countries are getting a sense of this atmosphere. Russians know how to play football and want to play football.”