“Records are made to break other records”, this proverb is very much apt for the Euro-2008 championship as every league match so far has brought surprises to its viewers. From the very onset, we have been enjoying a new charm, a unique experience and an unpredictable conclusion. Amongst the last six matches, if Germany-Poland and Netherlands-Italy encounters were considered highly remarkable, then Tuesday’s Spain-Russia match would certainly be placed at the supreme position.
The Group-D match between Spain and Russia was played at Innsbruck’s Tivoli Neu Stadium, and it ended with an unbelievable result. As Spain romped home as the winner with a 4-1 result, the entire stadium was burst out with joyous roar of Spanish supporters. It was David Villa, the renowned Valencia forward, who single-handedly axed the Russian troops after scoring a scintillating hat-trick at regular intervals (20’, 44’ and 75’). Despite the soggy conditions due to heavy rains, the Spanish strikers gave nop respite to Russian defenders.
Though Spain always appears in every big tournament as an underdog and even poses unprecedented threats to all big teams; but such a dazzling start from them has never happened before. In this 90-minutes’ clash, Spanish coach Luis Aragones followed a new strategy to use only two strikers, Fernando Torres and David Villa at the forefront to create sudden attacks, which proved fatal for Russia.
At the same time, he placed Sergio Ramos, Andres Iniesta, Xavi Alonso and David Silva to control the entire midfield; whereas Barcelona defender Carles Puyol and Valencia’s Carlos Marchena challenged the Russian strikers. Throughout the match, Liverpool’s Xavi Alonso and Valencia’s David Silva made several eye-soothing crosses to other co-players. But, the 26-year-old David Villa’s hat-trick magic has become a record in the history of Euro Cup, breaking the eight-year-old record of Patrick Kluivert against Yugoslavia. Had the Real Madrid goalie, Iker Casillas not been a little unconscious for few seconds, Russian striker Roman Pavlyuchenko could not have consoled Russian supporters with late strike. His 86th minute pass saved the team from humiliation as it added at least a single number in their goal chart. During the injury period (90’+1’), Cesc Fàbregas again made the difference three goals bigger.
No doubt, it is a brilliant start by Spain, but how long they will sustain such performance, still remains to be answered.
Match summary:
Spain:
Coach: Luis Aragones
Players: Iker Casillas, Carlos Marchena, Carles Puyol, Andrés Iniesta (63”), David Villa, Xavi Hernández, Fernando Torres, (54”), Joan Capdevila, Sergio Ramos, Marcos Senna, David Silva, Cesc Fàbregas (36”), Santi Cazorla (27”) and Xabi Alonso.
Russia:
Coach: Guss Hiddink.
Players: Igor Akinfeyev, Alexander Anyukov, Denis Kolodin, Roman Shirokov, Yuri Zhirkov, Sergei Semak, Konstantin Zyryanov, Igor Semshov, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Dmitry Sychev, Roman Pavlyuchenko.
Result:
Spain - 4 - David Villa- (20’, 44’ and 75’’), Cesc Fàbregas (91”)
Russia – 1- Roman Pavlyuchenko (86”)
Man of the match: David Villa.
Referee: Konrad Plautz (Austria).
