Hiddink announces Russia Euro 2008 squad

Russia coach Guus Hiddink on Tuesday unveiled his final selection of 23 players to play in the Euro 2008 finals.

Hiddink said he had to exclude midfielders Oleg Ivanov of Samara and Spartak Moscow’s Alexander Pavlenko from the team’s line-up.

“I was satisfied with all of my 25 players attitude to our preparations,” Hiddink said. “They all worked hard and productive.

“But I could select only 23 of them to play in Austria and Switzerland. We decided that Ivanov and Pavlenko would not be included in our squad. However, we asked Ivanov to stay with the team until the end of the championship.

“We will also ask Spartak management for a permission to leave Pavlenko in the team.”

Russia open their Euro 2008 campaign against Spain on June 10 followed by holders Greece (June 14) and Sweden (June 18) in the group stage.

Squad

Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeyev (CSKA Moscow), Vladimir Gabulov (Perm), Vyacheslav Malafeyev (Zenit St Petersburg)

Defenders: Alexander Anyukov (Zenit St Petersburg), Alexei Berezutsy, Vasily Berezursky, Sergei Ignashevich (all CSKA Moscow), Denis Kolodin (Dynamo Moscow), Renat Yanbayev (Lokomotiv Moscow)

Midfielders: Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Dmitry Torbinsky (both Lokomotiv Moscow), Vladimir Bystrov (Spartak Moscow), Yury Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow), Konstantin Zyryanov, Roman Shirokov (both Zenit St Petersburg), Igor Semshov (Dynamo Moscow), Sergei Semak (Kazan)

Strikers: Roman Adamov (FC Moscow), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Spartak Moscow), Pavel Pogrebnyak, Andrei Arshavin (both Zenit St Petersburg), Dmitry Sychev (Lokomotiv Moscow), Ivan Saenko (Nuremberg)