EURO Saturday

Having started so well at major tournaments in the past before ultimately not proving good enough, Spain will be hoping that their opening 4-1 win against Russia will not be the start of history repeating.

David Villa’s wonderful hat-trick and his superb link up play with Fernando Torres was part of the most impressive display so far at Euro 2008 and Sweden, their opponents on Saturday, have their work cut out if they are to take anything from the game.

Sweden themselves were winners in their first match, 2-0 over Greece, but the game was highly forgettable and the Greeks were so poor it is difficult to know exactly what the Swedes achieved. I’ll be leaving the clash between the two sides with three points well alone but I was so taken with just how poor the defending champions were that I think it’s time to get against them and I take Guus Hiddink’s Russia to bounce back.

While Greece ground their way to the biggest shock in European Championship history when beating hosts Portugal in the final to lift the trophy four years ago their style of football this time around was never going to work again, now that the element of surprise has long gone, and they were ruthlessly exposed by an average side on Tuesday.

Quite content to play sideways for long periods, Greece deserved everything they got when Petter Hansson completed the scoring for the Scandinavians and they face a Russia side who will be desperate to clamber their way back into the tournament.

Guus Hiddink’s team were considered real outsiders for the title before things got underway and although I was not quite as sure as others about their prospects they were simply outclassed by Spain and are worth giving another chance.

Despite the 4-1 score line, Russia did look comfortable in possession, although their defending at times was questionable, and Hiddink will have them fired up to take maximum points before a probable winner-takes-all last day clash with Sweden.

Andrei Arshevin, the Russian playmaker, is still absent through suspension but I think just one goal will probably be enough for them given how uninterested Greece look in threatening the opponents goal and Russia look a decent bet to keep their last eight hopes alive.