EURO 2008: Spain-Russia and Sweden-Greece

By Robert H. Kelly
Copyright 2008 TexSport Publications

David Villa notched the first hat-trick of the tournament to help Spain defeat Russia 4-1 in their Euro 2008 Group C opener on Tuesday.

Russia scored with a header from Roman Pavlyuchenko before substitute Cesc Fabregas dove to nod Spain's fourth goal from close range in stopage time.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his first international goal in more than two and a half years to send Sweden on the way to a 2-0 victory over champions Greece.

Petter Hansson garnered the second goal five minutes later to put Sweden level on points with Spain, who beat Russia 4-1 in the other Group D game earlier.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) will see the Czech Republic against Portugal and Switzerland facing Turkey in Group A action.