It was Zenith Saint-Petersburg pair Daler Kuzyayev and Aleksandr Yerokin who entered the World Cup's record books as the first players to be involved in a fourth substitution. The former made way for the later in the 97th-minute after their side has exhausted all their three substitutions during normal proceeding.
Bar the VAR innovation, FIFA also allowed for a fourth substitute to be introduced should a game reach an extra-time at this year's World Cup. The notion behind the extra sub is to lessen exhaustion in sides and also enhance the quality of gameplay in the additional 30 minutes.
Seven minutes later, Spain followed the trend by replacing Marco Asensio with Valencia forward Rodrigo, having already introduced Carvajal, Iniesta and Iago Aspas into the fray.
