Predictions for the round of 16 for the 2018 World Cup

#3. SPAIN vs RUSSIA

Isco will be Spain's key man against Russia

Spain is yet another team which has the perfect combination of youth and experience in their squad but yet again have not performed well in this tournament even though they topped their group, edging out Portugal on goal difference. As good as they are in attack, the same cannot be said for their defense, as they let in 3 goals against Portugal and 2 goals against Morroco. The defensive duo of Sergio Ramos and Gerad Pique are not as fast as others and are thus vulnerable to counter attacks as we have seen when they played against Portugal. This could be their Achilles heel.

Hosts Russia may be one of the surprise packages, netting 8 goals in the group stage. No one expected them to even qualify from the group stage so we can say that there will be significantly less pressure on them as compared to Spain. Although the 3-0 loss to Uruguay was a major wake up call, they will surely cause the Spanish defense a few problems.

I predict Spain to go through but I wouldn’t rule out there being an upset on the table. Russia are the hosts after with Germany's early exit, no team can feel safe.

Predicted Score- Spain 3-1 Russia