Quick Report: Spain 4-1 Russia

A hat-trick from David Villa and typical Spanish technique lifted Luis Aragonés’ men to a comprehensive 4-1 victory over Russia in their Group D opener at Euro 2008 on Tuesday.

Spain took the lead in the 20th minute as Fernando Torres took down a long ball and got a lucky bounce to put it by a defender before laying back for the trailing Villa to slot home past Igor Akinfeev.

Twenty minutes later, Villa doubled his account and the Spain lead as Andrés Iniesta on a counter played a beautiful ball into the area for Villa, and the Valencia striker again made no mistake in timing his run to stay onside and slotting home for 2-0.

Russia started the second half a bit stronger, but lacked the last touch and the crisp play that the Spaniards had for 90 minutes, and the match was put out of reach on 75 minutes as Villa completed the treble after yet another pinpoint pass to put him through, this time by Cesc Fabregas.

Russia were able to get one back four minutes from time when Konstantin Zyrianov’s corner kick was deflected onto the head of striker Roman Pavlyuchenko, who powered a header past a helpless Iker Casillas to add some respectability to the scoreline, but Fabregas added a header in stoppage time to complete the scoring.