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Russia 0-3 Spain
Spain cruised into the final of Euro 2008 with a comfortable 3-0 win over Russia.
Luis Aragones’ side beat Russia 4-1 in their first match of Euro 2008, and they reproduced the three-goal margin of victory in tonight’s semi-final rematch to earn their place in the final.
While Russia looked leggy and tired, Spain looked composed and controlled. The only negative from the evening, an injury to David Villa, proved to be the catalyst for their victory, as his replacement, Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas, set up the second and third goals and looked just about the best player on the pitch.
After a tense, tight first half, Spain began to assert their dominance and scored just five minutes into the second period.
Andres Iniesta cut in from the left wing and sent a wayward shot across the 18 yard box. The shot would have gone off for a throw in, but Xavi Hernandez arrived at pace to volley the ball past Akinfeev to put Spain in the lead.
The second goal owed much to the creativity of Fabregas. The Arsenal maestro played an inch-perfect chip over the final defender for Daniel Guiza to chest the ball down and dink it over Akinfeev to double Spain’s lead and all but secure victory on 73 minutes.
But Spain weren’t finished, and Fabregas was the architect again. Spain popped the ball around effortlessly, and eventually the ball found Fabregas out wide on the left. The Arsenal star carried the ball down the line before playing another inch-perfect pass, this time for David Silva, who buried his shot past Akinfeev in the bottom corner of the net.
It was a superb goal, and one that demonstrated Spain’s total dominance over Russia, for whom tonight’s match looked like one game too far.
The much-hyped Andrei Arshavin was expected to take centre stage in this contest, but struggled to make any impact on the game and was totally overshadowed by Spain’s super-sub Fabregas.
Spain will take on Germany in what promises to be a clash of the titans in Vienna on Sunday night. The Germans are past masters when it comes to tournament football, and no European side has ever won as many international tournaments as Germany, but Spain have the creativity, the pace and the strike power to take on – and beat – the functional, but defensively flawed Germans. It really could go either way.
Who’s YOUR money on?
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