Spain have booked a place in the Euro 2008 Final after shrugging off Russia 3-0 with a second half tour de force.

Spain started a stormy night in Vienna looking to join Germany in what would be their first European Championship Final in 24 years.

The fancied Spainards were favourites after squeezing past Italy on penalties, but they were expected to face a stern test against a Russia side who stunned Holland in the quarter-finals.

The Spanish side, who made no changes from their clash against the Azzurri, were forced to wear yellow against the red of Russia, much to the annoyance of their traditionalist Coach Luis Aragones.

Russia made one change with Vasili Berezutski filling in for suspended defensive sharp-shooter Denis Kolodin.

Aragones’ men enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges as the rain started to pour down and Sergio Ramos caused some problems running at the Russians.

Fernando Torres had the first shot of the game in the fifth minute when he hooked a shot on the turn from just inside the box, but his effort was blocked by Igor Akinfeev’s outstretched leg.

Akinfeev was again alert to make a diving parry from David Villa, but the Russians were getting into the game and in-demand forward Andrei Arshavin was brought down on a menacing run.

Roman Pavlyuchenko blasted the resulting free-kick just over the bar and the pace slowed.

Andres Iniesta had half a chance in the box, but he couldn’t connect and the danger was cleared.

Konstantin Zyrianov brought down David Silva outside the box with a cynical challenge, but he escaped a booking and Villa’s strike was easily gathered.

The ball broke to Pavlyuchenko on the edge of the area and his strike curled agonisingly wide.

Villa went to ground injured and left the field after 35 minutes to be replaced by Cesc Fabregas.

Pavlyuchenko had the ball taken off his feet from seven yards out and caused trouble with an ambitious diving header attempt from 10 yards.

The first half ended in a tense stalemate with neither side making a cohesive case for a place in the Final.

Xavi made it 1-0 to Spain five minutes after the break when he connected with a Iniesta cross from six yards.

Torres missed a golden chance to double the lead when he fired over from 12 yards out at a tight angle.

The Liverpool man went close from a Fabregas ball and drilled wide of the post before he was surprisingly replaced by Dani Guiza.

But the change proved to be inspired as just minutes later Fabregas flicked Ramos’ ball into the path of Guiza to place it past Akinfeev for 2-0.

The Russians looked deflated and Spain began to stroke the ball around with an arrogant swagger.

With eight minutes remaining any lingering doubts were extinguished when Fabregas’ inch-perfect ball found Silva in space in the box and he took a touch before placing it home for 3-0.

Iker Casillas made an excellent stop to deny Dmitri Sychev’s close-range header, while Akinfeev denied Guiza with his feet in the final minute of normal time.

A sodden Guus Hiddink can be proud of his side’s tournament, but it’s Spain who have a date in Vienna on Sunday evening.
Russia (probable): Akinfeev; Anyukov, Ignatsevich, V Berezutski, Zhirkov; Semak; Bilyaletdinov, Saenko (Sychev 57), Zyrianov; Arshavin; Pavlyuchenko

Spain (probable): Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Puyol, Marchena, Capdevila; Senna; Iniesta, Xavi (Xabi Alonso 68), Silva; Villa (Fabregas 35), Torres (Guiza 68)

Ref: De Bleeckere (Bel)

Ref From channel4.com

A fantastic display of attacking football from Russia proved to be too much for Sweden to handle, as goals from Roman Pavlyuchenko and Andrei Arshavin booked a quarter-final meeting with Holland.

Both teams received a major boost before kick-off, with Russia being able to finally call upon Arshavin for the first time at Euro 2008 after his two-match ban expired – winger Dimitri Torbinsky was the unlucky man to miss out. Sweden, who would have reached the last eight with a draw, named an unchanged starting XI after Zlatan Ibrahimovic came through a late fitness test on his injured left knee to take his place up front alongside Henrik Larsson.

Ibra was instantly involved in the action, albeit in comical circumstances, as the Inter ace attempted a scorpion kick in the penalty area only to miss the ball completely and catch Sergei Ignashevich straight in the face.

Russia had the better of the early exchanges though and could have had a decent chance at goal had Konstantin Zyryanov not gotten in the way of teammate Igor Semshov when well placed. They continued to push forward and Arshavin really should have done better with a free header from Anyukov’s cross.

The Swedes looked tired after their gruelling encounter against Spain on Saturday and were being overrun by Guus Hiddink’s men, with Arshavin pulling the strings and going close once more with a shot. The Zenit St Petersburg man was at the heart of the action again with an audacious cross cum shot which Andreas Isaksson was forced to tip over.

The Swedes didn’t heed the warnings and fell behind after 24 minutes as Pavlyuchenko showed why he is so highly rated with an excellent low finish from Anyukov’s centre at the end of a well-worked team move. It was a more than deserved lead for Russia, who were putting on a fine show for the Innsbruck crowd.

The goal seemed to spur Sweden into life though, as they finally had their first attempt through Larsson, who was hoping to score at a sixth major international tournament. The former Celtic man flicked on a cross from Anders Svensson only to see it agonisingly bounce off the top of the bar.

A brief period of sparring followed as Russia seemed content to play the ball around the midfield, before Pavlyuchenko rattled the woodwork with a fine effort from just inside the box. The ball bounced down off the crossbar and hit a Swedish defender and it took an excellent intervention from Isaksson to keep the ball out.

The former Juve ‘keeper was in action once more from the resulting corner with another fine save and his colleagues finally came into the game as first Freddie Ljungberg and then Mikael Nilsson brought the best out of Igor Akinfeev. It proved to be the final action in an action-packed first half which Russia clearly had the better off.

Hiddink’s boys began the second period in the same manner as the first and sensationally doubled their tally. A wonderful move saw Arshavin play in Zhirkov down the left flank and the influential playmaker got on the end of the return feed to put Russia firmly in the driving seat.

The goal prompted Lars Lagerback into a change, with Daniel Andersson making way for the more attack-minded Kim Kallstrom. The switch helped Sweden establish themselves more in the Russian half, but they struggled to create chances – which was typified by Larsson attempting an audacious overhead kick from an impossible angle.

Juventus new boy Olof Mellberg was next up, getting his head on the end of a Kallstrom corner only to send it over the bar, while Anders Svensson ridiculously tried his luck from the best part of 30 yards out.

Hiddink, clearly not happy with his side allowing Sweden plenty of the ball, mixed things up after 66 minutes by replacing Bilyaletdinov with Ivan Saenko, the only player in Hiddink’s squad to ply his trade outside of the Russian Premier League.

The substitution didn’t change much, as Sweden continued to have plenty of the ball without really doing anything with it. On one of the rare occasions when there was a bit of quality from out wide, Ibrahimovic could only find Akinfeev’s hands with his weak header.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, so off came full-back Nilsson for Sweden to allow another striker, Marcus Allback, to enter the fray. All that did was spark scenes of chaos in their own defence, as a failure to adjust to the change allowed Zyryanov time and space to fire a deflected shot against the woodwork, before Saenko woefully misdirected his header from the rebound.

As Sweden continued to throw bodies forward, another swift counter-attack produced a great chance for Pavlyuchenko to net his third goal of the tournament, but the Spartak Moscow man could only drag his shot wide. Russia continued to look threatening on the break, but ultimately their two goals were enough to send Sweden packing. Hiddink has now successfully negotiated the group stage in each of his five international tournaments as a Coach.
Russia: Akinfeev; Anyukov, Kolodin, Ignashevich, Zhirkov; Semak, Zyryanov, Semshov, Bilyaletdinov (Saenko 66); Arshavin, Pavlyuchenko (Bystrov 90)

Sweden: Isaksson; Stoor, Mellberg, Hansson, Nilsson (Allback 79); Elmander, Svensson, Andersson (Kallstrom 56), Ljungberg; Ibrahimovic, H Larsson

Ref: De Bleeckere (Bel)

Ref From channel4.com