Spain got their European Championship campaign off to a stunning start, as David Villa’s hat-trick was enough to comfortably see off Russia in Group D’s opening game.

The two sides are no strangers, as they also met at the group stage in Portugal four years ago. Juan Carlos Valeron proved to be the Red Fury’s match-winner on that occasion, but neither side reached the quarter-finals so they will be hoping to improve their fortunes this time out.

Luis Aragones surprisingly opted to omit Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas from Spain’s starting XI as he decided to go with anchorman Marcos Senna in the middle of the park. And it perhaps wasn’t the Russia side that he expected opposite number Guus Hiddink to field, as Roman Shirokov and Denis Kolodin lined-up alongside each other at the heart of the defence for the first time in a competitive game.

It was a decision the Dutchman – incidentally the first Coach to lead two different nations at a European Championship, having been in the Holland hot seat at Euro ’96 – quickly began to regret as Spain made light of the heavy rain in Innsbruck to dominate the early stages. First Fernando Torres went close and then Villa opted for a shot when perhaps the pass would have been a more selfless option.

And though a lovely Russian passing move almost created a goal at the other end, it was the Red Fury who opened the scoring. Torres shrugged off a challenge from Kolodin and, clearly learning from his partner’s mistake earlier, played the ball back to Villa to hand Spain the perfect start.

The lead was almost immediately wiped out though, as some comical Spanish defending allowed Konstantin Zyryanov time and space in the box only to see his shot agonisingly come back off the post.

However, normal service quickly resumed as the ever-dangerous Torres tested Akinfeev from distance and Villa quickly followed suit from slightly closer in. It really was child’s play for the boys in red as they were cutting through a shoddy Russian backline with ease time and time again.

It was soon 2-0 to Aragones’ side, but not before Roman Pavlyuchenko gave them a scare after hitting the crossbar – although the referee’s whistle had blown just before he struck it. It was that man Villa again who extended the advantage on the stroke of half-time, taking advantage of space in behind to get on the end of a lovely Andres Iniesta through ball. The finish, through Akinfeev’s legs, was majestic.

The second half began with a change for Russia, as Dmitri Sychev made way for Vladimir Bystrov and the speedy winger was quickly looking threatening. After almost getting in behind, the Spartak Moscow man then headed the resulting corner straight at Iker Casillas. Sensing danger, Aragones surprisingly withdrew Torres for Fabregas in a bid to shore up the midfield. Responding to this, Hiddink threw on Dmitri Torbinsky in place of Igor Semshov.

The change didn’t exactly have the desired effect, as Spain almost added to their advantage through Villa once again. Some intelligent off-the-ball running opened things up for the Valencia man, but his low drive from just outside the box was smartly stopped by Akinfeev.

A similar effort from Bilyaletdinov at the other end almost caught out Casillas as Russia tried to get back into the game, but their rhythm was quickly disrupted as Spain made their second change of the evening, introducing Santi Cazorla for just his third cap in place of Iniesta.

The change seemed to inspire Spain as they attempted to set-up Villa for his hat-trick, with both Fabregas and Ramos just failing to pick him out when well placed. A corner then brought about chances for Senna and David Silva, but Akinfeev was up to the task.

Bizarrely, half-time substitute Bystrov was replaced by striker Roman Adamov just 25 minutes after coming on as Hiddink played his final card. It almost paid dividends as Pavlyuchenko had a deflected shot well saved by Casillas, but soon after it was game, set and match to Spain.

Breaking smartly, substitute Fabregas picked up the ball in the middle of the park and threaded a lovely ball through for Villa. It looked like the No 7 had fluffed his lines, but he readjusted superbly before coolly slotting past Akinfeev for the first hat-trick of Euro 2008. He celebrated by running over to his buddy Torres in the Spain dugout.

Another change followed in the 77th minute as Juventus-bound Xabi Alonso came on for Silva and Spain almost lost their clean-sheet when Pavlyuchenko – one of the few Russia players to come out of the game with any credit – narrowly missed the target from 25 yards. He didn’t have to wait long to get his reward though, as Spain failed to clear their lines from a corner and the Spartak Moscow man powerfully headed home.

The goal means that two teams have finally scored in the same game at Euro 2008, but it made no difference for Russia as they failed to take advantage of a great opportunity at one end to set up a grand-stand finish. Fabregas punished them in stoppage time as Akinfeev could only parry a Xavi shot into his path for an easy header, although the Arsenal man was clearly offside.
Spain: Casillas; Ramos, Puyol, Marchena, Capdevila; Senna; Iniesta (Santi Cazorla 63), Xavi, Silva (Alonso 77); Villa, Torres (Fabregas 54)

Russia: Afinkeev; Anyukov, Kolodin, Shirokov, Zhirkov; Semak, Zyryanov, Semshov (Torbinski 58), Bilyaletdinov, Sychev (Bystrov 46) (Adamov 70); Pavlyuchenko

Ref: Plautz (Aus)

Ref From channel4.com