Russia 2 Greece 1

It took Spain more sweat and toil than they had anticipated but, in a game that saw a red card for Roman Sharanov and a glut of bookings, Inaki Saez’s side got off to the start to the Euro 2004 finals they had dreamed off.

Hosts Portugal’s surprise defeat to Greece in the opening match of the tournament gave both Spain and Russia a huge incentive to go for victory in the second Group A game at the Estadio Algarve.

Russia coach Georgi Yartsev finds himself trying to deal with an horrendous injury crisis before his side’s opening Euro 2004 match against Spain tomorrow.