Is football actually coming home? If Russia's shock penalty shootout win over Spain is anything to go by, plenty of England fans really are starting to believe that this could be their World Cup year.

Russia eliminated Spain from the World Cup on Sunday afternoon, surviving two hours of dominance by the 2010 champions in a 1-1 draw before winning the shootout 4-3.

Russia's captain and goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev saved spot-kicks from Koke and Iago Aspas, and four of his team-mates all scored to send the Moscow crowd wild.

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But the result wasn't only a positive one for Russia, with England also benefitting by seeing one of the favourites on their side of the knockout draw dumped out so early.

If the Three Lions manage to navigate a route into the last four, Spain's exit has potentially given them a huge boost in their chances of reaching the final.

Should England beat Colombia in their last-16 tie on Tuesday night, they would then face a quarter-final against either Sweden or Switzerland on Saturday afternoon.

Win that, and Spain's defeat means that England would face one of Russia, Croatia or Denmark in the last four - not easy games by any stretch of the imagination, but certainly preferable to the other side of the draw which features the likes of France, Uruguay, Brazil and Belgium.

And while England have their fans time and again since 1966 that results and performances cannot necessarily be counted on, Three Lions fans - as well as a few former players - were quick to share their delight on social media after Spain's exit...